Attacks on ATMs are on the rise – and they’re getting more brutal. North Rhine-Westphalia is particularly affected.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt The savings banks in the Rhineland expect that in the fight against demolitions, more and more endangered ATMs will be dismantled. There will be debates about this this year, “because the police and the State Criminal Police Office are asking us not to maintain ATMs in certain places,” said Michael Breuer, President of the Rhenish Savings Banks and Giro Association, on Wednesday.
Breuer pointed out that talks were already being held with the police and the Ministry of the Interior of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW). Part of this should be a location analysis of the ATMs. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul announced a few weeks ago that he wanted to consult with bank representatives in view of the “increasingly worrying situation” in the case of the ATM blasts.
The number of attacks on ATMs has increased significantly in recent years – as has the extent of the demolitions. In 2020, the Federal Criminal Police Office registered 414 blasts and attempted blasts. In 2012 there were still 89.
Added to this are the consequences of changed payment behavior. Citizens are making more and more cashless payments – the number of ATMs, which are sometimes expensive for the banks, is therefore declining anyway.
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With every security measure that is installed, the brutality of organized crime has also increased, Breuer said. Some blasts are so violent that they partially destroy buildings housing the ATMs. Breuer estimates that the damage caused by the blasts is twice as high today as it was five years ago.
Focus on North Rhine-Westphalia
NRW is particularly badly affected. In 2021 there were a good 150 blasts and blast attempts there – slightly fewer than in 2020 with 176 such attacks. In January and February 2022 alone, however, there were already 32 cases, according to the Rhineland Savings Banks Association.
It has long been suspected that the crimes are rarely the fault of individuals, but that larger groups of criminals are behind them. “The suspects are mostly Dutch with Moroccan roots between the ages of 18 and 35,” Reul recently told the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”.
The LKA NRW stated that according to its investigations, the perpetrators came mainly from Moroccan-Dutch criminal groups who lived mainly in and around Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. “The Dutch police estimate the circle at around 500 to 700 people.”
NRW is so interesting because of “good escape opportunities”, said Reul. “Many crime scenes are located directly on the motorway.” In addition, of the 59,000 ATMs in Germany, 11,000 would be in NRW – many of them in turn come from the savings banks as market leaders.
Neither so-called explosion mats, which are supposed to make ATMs more resistant to attacks, nor shrill alarm signals seem to be able to stop the perpetrators. Some banks are now closing the self-service stations in the foyers overnight for security reasons. There are already savings banks, not only in NRW, that have dismantled individual ATMs that are considered endangered as a precaution.
Breuer does not want to become DSGV boss
The low interest rates last year left their mark on the Rhenish savings banks. The operating result before valuation fell slightly to 893 million euros. After evaluation, the 29 savings banks, including a number of large institutions, earned significantly more than 2020 at EUR 920 million. The balance sheet profit was EUR 206 million, EUR 33 million more than in the previous year.
Breuer called on the European Central Bank (ECB) to commit to an interest rate turnaround. “Extreme price increases for energy and raw materials are clouding the economic outlook. Delivery bottlenecks and price pressure for companies are increasing. We all notice in everyday life how enormously prices have recently risen.” Against this background, it is fatal that the ECB “has still not decided on a clear course and communicated timetable for saying goodbye to negative interest rates”.
Breuer rejected a move to the head of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV). “I don’t want to become DSGV President.” Rather, he wants to remain at the head of the Rhenish Savings Banks Association.
The 56-year-old has been in charge of this since 2008. He is considered to be influential within the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. Many in the organization actually trust him to become the successor to Sparkasse President Helmut Schleweis, whose term of office runs until the end of 2023.
More: Higher account fees: How the savings banks get customer approval via ATMs