Security Spotlight: A harrowing heist, high-speed chase, and more!

Welcome to the May issue of Security Spotlight

In this month's Security Spotlight, the dog days of summer are underway and bank crimes and fraud are heating up. Observant citizens, social media and family members are helping law enforcement round up the bad guys. Barry Thompson has an important tip for securing cash recyclers and dispensers to mitigate losses. Hot topics in the Bankers Threads, CrimeDex alerts and our BOL Facebook posts contain some cool training tips.

In this Issue:

• Tips, Tidbits & Training
• Bank Robbery Update
• Security Shorts
• Hot Topics
• CrimeDex Report
• Blogging on Facebook
• Banker Store Security Products

Cash Dispensers and Recyclers
   by Barry Thompson

Cash recyclers and cash dispensing machines have become very popular over the last three years. Some banks have reported that bank robbers avoid locations that are equipped with them. The same thing was said about supermarket branches – before criminals learned how to attack those installations.

If your institution is robbed, these machines should be programmed to dispense a limited amount of cash for the robber. The amount should be below what criminals are obtaining in local convenience store robberies. The most important item to have is a sticker viewable from the lobby area on the machine that states: "Operator cannot open this machine" so that in the event of a robbery, and after the cash is dispensed, the teller can point direct the robber's attention to the sticker.

Tangible Tips

A newsworthy tip - Some people follow sports. Some follow politics. Cathy Johnson from Hendersonville, NC follows not just her local news, but news from around the world...including bank robberies. Police in Hendersonville and Saint Louis, MO have credited Johnson's interest in news as instrumental in the identification of a suspect wanted for bank heists in both regions. When Johnson was perusing the local news in Hendersonville, she recognized the suspect in the photo from a local bank robbery as the same man she saw in a story from a bank robbery in Saint Louis earlier that same week. Johnson contacted the Hendersonville Police department, who contacted Saint Louis Police, and the two departments agreed it was the same guy. The suspect, who tried to purchase a 2006 Mustang GT with cash a day prior to the Hendersonville heist, was also recognized by an employee at the car dealership – where he gave his name and all his contact information. Police have obtained an arrest warrant and are searching for Nader Jaser Abdallah.


Most wanted faces on Facebook - It used to be, in days gone by, the baddest of the bad stared out from FBI wanted posters in post offices nationwide. With the advent of news media publishing online and social media sites, observant citizens (like Cathy Johnson) are becoming effective partners in law enforcement. In Toms River, NJ social media posts helped local police identify four people in connection with three separate crimes in a single week, one of which was a bank robbery. After posting surveillance photos on Facebook of a suspect who robbed a TD Bank branch on July 10, the Toms River police department was contacted by more than a dozen tipsters, and Jerome Gilby was identified hours after the pictures were posted. The 30-year-old was arrested three days later and charged with the bank robbery. The Toms River Facebook page has garnered more than 9,000 members since it went online in 2014 and has often been an effective tool in helping the department solve cases within hours instead of weeks or months.

A Familial Tip, Familial Fraud, and a Familiar Face

Tip lead to snowbird bandit - Sometimes the tip lines offering rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of criminals are used by unsavory characters with the intent to "remove the competition" by turning in the other guy. And sometimes, the tipster is someone a little bit closer to home. In Southern California, police were searching for the "Snowbird Bandit," who had robbed five banks in four months. A tip from a family member lead to the arrest of 70-year-old Randolph Bruce Adair, a former LAPD detective who retired in 1988. Police are still piecing together the evidence and trying to find out what happened to lead a career officer to cross the line to career criminal.

Loan fraud - Security Officers often wear many hats, one of which is that of a trainer. Those who do may want to share this story with the bank's commercial lending group. It's an example of how those small-print disclosures saying it's a crime to submit false financials to a bank can have some teeth. A father and son who jointly owned various restaurants and developed commercial property needed to borrow money four years ago. Among other financials, the father submitted an income statement to the bank reflecting that he had earned $780,000 in 2010, while he reported losses of $1.8 million to the IRS. The "discrepancy" caught up to him and the father is currently awaiting sentencing on charges of bank fraud and money laundering. He faces 40 years in federal prison without parole, a fine up to $1,250,000 and restitution. Almost $5.6 million is to be forfeited to the government as proceeds from the criminal activity. The son, who discovered his father's fraudulent activity but failed to report it, faces three years in federal prison without parole, and a fine up to $250,000. More details on the case are available in this article.

Leading man for Jailhouse Rock - Up and coming actor Jason Stange was working on a small film near Tacoma, WA. A local newspaper wanted to do a story on the movie being filmed in their area. The director welcomed the publicity. Stange, with a distinctive tattoo on his left arm, was featured in the photo that ran with the story, which may lead to his next role – in Jailhouse Rock. Turns out, Stange had a different line of work before he turned to acting. In 2006, he was convicted of bank robbery and sent to prison. He was at a halfway house when he decided on his own to leave a little early...making him a fugitive. Federal agents recognized Stange in the news photo about the new movie and arrested him. The film is set for release in 2016 – it may be out before he is.

ATMs are the bomb - One of this month's Facebook posts (see recap below) showed how heavy machinery can be used to break into ATMs. While the use of explosives in ATM theft is less common, a second incident has been reported in Philadelphia. A 911 call about shots being fired has led to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security investigation into an attempt by thieves to blast an ATM on July 21st. Parts of the ATM were found 100 feet away. A similar attempted ATM theft had taken place almost two weeks prior to this incident. Police suspect the two crimes are related, as the thieves were unable to open the safe with the cash in either case, but more explosives were used in the second attempt.

Two too many - On July 28th, the Conway National Bank in Myrtle Beach was robbed. After using a customer desk in the lobby, a man approached a teller and instructed her that this was a robbery. He got away with some cash, but Kenneth Green, 44, was quickly identified from surveillance photos, arrested and charged with the heist.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this year that the Conway National Bank was robbed. On May 7th, a different man entered the bank, displayed a handgun and announced to the entire lobby that he was robbing the bank. Tyrone Louis Harts Jr., 26, was arrested on June 1st for that heist. His list of charges included bank robbery, kidnapping, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, child passenger restraint violation and violation of his beginner permit. (Do you get the feeling the District Attorney was looking for everything to charge him with in this case?)

And, on July 7th, a different Conway National Bank branch in Myrtle Beach was also held up. In that case, four people have been arrested. When a bank is robbed, it's normal for the bank, and most likely all branches, to revisit the training that had been provided to ensure everyone is up to date on the procedures to follow, and that the bank is taking whatever measures it can to avoid these incidents.

Hot Topics from the Bankers' Threads

The publicly accessible threads for Security have been quieter lately. We encourage our readers to join current discussions or start new ones on hot topics that are impacting your bank. There was one thread on ATM lighting requirements that carried over from last month. Requirements can vary by state, but sometimes what is done and how often is not only a risk decision but can be influenced by the industry. With defined requirements in place, recognizing and mitigating the risks of ATM lighting issues can be easier. Securing tokens, which are used for FedLine access, is another hot thread. There are specific rules to follow, which are discussed here. This is a good use of the public threads so long as the talk isn't too specific. More of the discussions, for risk management and confidentiality reasons, have moved to the private area where we have a forum for bankers only on security topics, and another that allows law enforcement and regulators access.

We also have a "private" security forum for discussion of more private, sensitive topics. That is where security officers were discussing trafficking and management's "request" to file a SAR. This raises the question, does management understand the SAR requirements and that when there is very little information for content, a SAR doesn't help anyone? This could be a potential training opportunity. Read about that and more in the private security forum.

To comment in Bankers' Threads you must be a registered user. You can register here. If using your bank email account, you will be given access to the private forums. The Private area is a group of forums under the heading "Private - Financial Institution Personnel Only." The Private forums do not include access to Bankers Hotline or Compliance Action, premium content areas that require paid subscriptions to those respective publications.

If you are already registered for the Threads, but don't yet have access to the private forums, using your bank email address send a request for access to brenda@bankersonline.com. Please verify that you do not yet have Private access. Once your registration request is approved, you can access the Private Security forum here.

July CrimeDex highlights and lowlights

There were over 300 BOL CrimeDex alerts that hit our inbox this month. Here's a sampling — The Secret Service sent an alert asking for information to assist them in an investigation into a compromised credit card number that had been blocked in mid-April, yet in the following 30 days 3,900 fraudulent transactions took place, mostly in Las Vegas. The Fort Campbell (TN) Federal Credit Union sought law enforcement agencies currently working on card-cracking cases in the mid-Tennessee area. Stamford, Connecticut, police posted an alert concerning counterfeit $100 bills being passed in that city and in other areas of that state, New Jersey and Massachusetts. A Florida bank asked for assistance in identifying an individual involved in an account takeover in which counterfeit checks on a Wells Fargo Bank payroll account were deposited to the compromised account, followed by debit card and ATM transactions to drain the funds.

These and scores of other BOL CrimeDex alerts each month can help Security Officers to keep current on the schemes, scams and other crimes that can cost their banks and their customers thousands of dollars, and provide up-to-date object lessons that can be used in security training.

Throughout the month, we share news-related incidents on Facebook that can be informative examples for training employees on security issues and more. We are pleased to see our number of followers growing but we need your help to spread the word. Visit us on Facebook, "Like" our page, and share it with your co-workers so they too can stay updated on the latest news.

As evidenced by the activity we saw in July, the bad guys aren't taking the summer off. Here's a recap of the latest posts:

• In a post titled "One down?" a thief who was skimming ATMs had already stolen $300,000 when the police nabbed him as he was planning to fly out of the country. Read the story for more details, plus a security reminder to pass on to customers.
• In a recent bank heist, those in the bank at the time probably felt like it was their "lucky day" when it was over and they could safely go home. The robber took his stolen loot and fled, leaving behind a suspicious package, which police determined upon investigation was not a bomb. Meanwhile, another group of Miami's finest attempted to negotiate with the robber (known to them), was barricaded in his home. Police attempted to lure him out with tear gas, but the suspect didn't leave and was killed at the scene. Read about the incident in our "The ambulance left empty" post. Considering what this man was capable of, it had to be a frightening experience for the employees at this bank.
• While the Americans with Disabilities Act has been around for 25 years now, our July 6th post about a man who robbed a bank in New York and escaped in his wheelchair is not exactly the kind of "equality" that was envisioned when that law passed.
• On July 9th, we shared a story about a Good Samaritan who saw a man covered in what appeared to be colors from an exploded dye pack, leaving from the direction of a bank that not only had just been robbed, but had been robbed previously. Read the story for an interesting turn of events.
• Need some training material for that next board/senior management presentation? Our July 10th post highlights the need for a high level of awareness and some planning on the bank's part for the safety of its executives. But how do you prepare for the possibility of the kidnapping of a bank employee's family?
• Is there any construction taking place around any of your ATMs? On July 15th we posted another example of ATM theft in our "they stole the heavy equipment from the construction site and busted the ATM with it" story.
• And, on July 21st, we shared a story about a man who was arrested for ATM skimming. While this thief alone stole $100,000, the ring he worked for had pilfered $1 million.