Alright, let’s be honest. We’ve all thought about hijacking an ATM and making money rain down from the skies like lightning bolts from Zeus. After all, there has to be boatloads of money in there.
In most cases, however, people repress the urge to break into the machine, simply take their money and go. However, not everyone is skilled at suppressing such impulses.
In Three Way, Tennessee, surveillance cameras recently caught an ATM theft in the act. Those responsible for the innocent didn’t hold back, either, as they didn’t use some complex hacking apparatus to steal PINs and access random bank accounts. Instead, they used a forklift, according to a report by local TV station WBBJ.
Let that sink in for a second: a forklift. How is such a feat possible? By driving the forklift into the back of the ATM, skewering it and driving off. The surveillance system caught the incident from a number of angles, and showed the forklift had no trouble impaling the bank ATM and maneuvering it to a position outside the cameras’ view, the news source said.
Investigators also said the footage shows a 1980s or 90s pickup truck with two-tone color back up into the frame, WBBJ reported.
The FBI noted that Tennessee is not entirely unfamiliar with burglaries, as more than 64,000 instances were reported in 2010.
While this theft shows some ingenuity on behalf of the criminals, it also suggests businesses need to be prepared for all types of crimes and should deploy robust physical security systems to mitigate risk, prevent situations from taking place or help local law enforcement agencies identify and locate criminals.
Crime Stoppers and the Madison County Police Department are asking for any help that may lead to an arrest.