The Gentlest Way To Rob A BANK

Bank robbers have found a new method to eliminate ATMs. You use a USB flash drive, the device spits out the entire contents and remain unscathed. One of the "Jack Potter" was filmed in the act in Berlin.

Police Berlin is looking for this man. Photo: Police Berlin

The gentlest kind a bank to rob is the Jackpot Ting, say police investigators. The unit remains intact during roughing. This new method has been used 20 times in Europe. Of the four known cases in Germany involved two devices in Berlin.


When practiced for five years method, the electronics of the ATMs will be manipulated so that the entire contents of the device from him released and is output intact with the aid of a USB stick. The software for the theft said to have been developed in Russia. Also of software experts from China is mentioned.


For the first time a robber has been filmed in Germany during manipulation. Once in Baden-Württemberg and one in Berlin. With the release of photos, the investigators hope to Notes identity of the man.

Lock out of service

On Sunday, August 9, the suspect in a branch of the Kreissparkasse in Esslingen am Neckar had been photographed in Baden-Württemberg against 6.50 clock. The same man 14 was hours later photographed in Reinickendorf at an ATM of Postbank.

In both cases, he was wearing the same glasses and the same baseball cap. In both cases, he stayed on half an hour. During this time he phoned a white cell phone. He unscrewed a part of the machine cover and put a USB port free, which is not visible at first for a layman. The man stuck a USB flash drive into the jack and played a program that uses any locks in the device inoperative. Finally he pressed a few buttons on the unit and the money fell out of the device. Compared to spy on debit cards has not the customer the damage, but the bank itself. The phenomenon has been known since the summer of this year in Germany, says the state police.

The method is called Jackpot Ting, because with it within a short time all the money can be taken from a single device. It was first introduced by a US security experts at a hacker conference in Las Vegas of 2010. Banks should be warned and made aware before the new trick. That seems to be not quite succeeded, investigators say today. According to official estimates, there are three million ATMs worldwide. The Savings Bank operates throughout Germany claims to 25,000 units.