ew ATM thefts make as big of an impact-literally-as smash and grabs. The name of the crime says it all. Daring thieves typically drive a stolen vehicle right through the front of a retail location, quickly connect an ATM to the vehicle with a chain and drive off into the night. Machines are rarely recovered; when they are, they're empty.

"There are a relatively small number of these kinds of crimes, but they're unquestionably very dramatic when they do take place," said Barry Schreiber, a professor of criminal justice at Minnesota's St. Cloud University who has tracked ATM crime for 20 years.

Mark Coons, President of American Special Risk, a company that offers an ATM insurance program through the ATM Industry Association, estimates that his company pays about $4.5 million a year in claims related to smash and grab incidents. Eighty percent of his company's claims-300 or so a year-involve the removal of an entire ATM, he said.

Nearly all of the claims involve the total loss of a machine. "Most of the time, they never see it again. If it's recovered, it's usually so smashed up it can't be repaired," he said. Merchants also often sustain significant losses because of damage to their storefronts.

Most retail ATMs weigh less than 200 pounds, Coons said, which makes them a tempting target. "It's really pretty easy. If thieves have the proper equipment, they can be in and out of a premises within minutes."

Perps with a Pattern

Coons said he's seen a number of smash and grab rings that hit multiple retail locations.

"That's what can be devastating to the small ISO," Coons said. "Their machines are all going to be concentrated in a fairly small area, and this type of scenario can put them out of business."

The good news, said Schreiber, is that such thieves are invariably apprehended. "They get greedy, and they get caught."

Few thieves are ambitious enough to drag off an ATM enclosure, says DASH ATM Enclosures' Mike Adams.

Tom Tucker, the owner of Central States Cash Company, an Illinois ISO that operates 20 ATMs, recently lost two machines in a single month from the same rural location. In addition to his two ATMs, 13 others were yanked from businesses in the past four months. Police believe the crimes, which span five western Illinois counties, are related.

"(The thieves) are really brash. They're doing this in small hamlets with limited police protection," said Tucker, who believes his business may suffer-at least until the culprits are caught.

"First of all, a lot of stores no longer want to put in an ATM because they don't want to be a target," he said. "And insurance companies aren't going to want to touch these locations."

Coons said American Special Risk "looks at every single ATM placement" to determine its rates, charging less for 24-hour businesses, as well as sites equipped with alarm systems and theft deterrents such as physical barriers at a store's entrance.

Some merchants have balked when ISOs recommended installing concrete posts in front of their stores. "I tell them to try concrete planters instead. It's going to look nicer, and that can make all of the difference to a merchant," Coons said.

Risky Business

Haze Lancaster, President of ATM USA, said his Raleigh, N.C.-based company has lost five to 10 machines to smash and grabs over the past six years, each time losing $4,000 to $6,000 in cash in addition to the ATM.

"That's one of the misconceptions that criminals have, that there's going to be $100,000 in the ATM. In reality, there's probably not going to be more than a few thousand," Lancaster said, noting that many retail machines hold no more than $20,000 when filled to capacity and few locations require a full ATM.

That kind of payoff doesn't justify the possible repercussions, Lancaster said. "By the time they steal a vehicle, smash it through the front of a building, take the ATM out of there, take it someplace and smash it open, they're going to commit four or five felonies before it's over."

Super Bolts

In at least one instance, Lancaster said, a potential smash and grabber was thwarted by his company's use of ABS Anchor Bolts, a product marketed by North Carolina-based US Armored. ATM USA uses the bolts, which can withstand 10,000 pounds of pressure, on all of its placements in non-24 hour locations.

Lancaster calls the bolts, which cost $10 each, "a $40 insurance policy."

Dusty Field, President of both US Armored and Automatic Bankcard Services, worked with a company that manufactures bolts used to anchor telecommunications towers to modify its product for ATMs after Automatic Bankcard experienced several losses.

In one incident, captured on surveillance tape, all it took was a strong shove from one beefy thief to bring the ATM out of the floor. He and an accomplice "put the machine on a dolly and walked out of there in about 20 seconds," Field said. "I thought there's no way this should be happening. I'm not going to continue to lose money."

Field has sold hundreds of the bolts over the past four years, mostly to ISOs with placements. "For most ISOs who aren't concerned about placements, if a machine gets stolen it's just another sale for them," he said. "If it's a placement, it's their machine, their money and their insurance."

Some ISOs use two of the ABS Anchor Bolts rather than four to save money, said Field, who uses them on all of the 300 machines he still operates after selling some 700 of his ATM management contracts to Access to Money last July.

Building of Steel

Though it wasn't designed as a theft deterrent, a new standalone exterior enclosure manufactured by DASH ATM Enclosures will serve as one nonetheless, said Mike Adams, a partner in the Texas company. "With this, you're not going to have people driving through your store trying to get to the ATM anymore."

Another advantage, Adams said, is that the enclosure frees up valuable retail floor space that would otherwise be used for an ATM.

The 10-gauge steel enclosure weighs 1,400 pounds and is anchored down with six bolts, which should discourage all but the most determined smash and grabbers, Adams said. "Even if they managed to take it down the road, they'd have to take a torch to it to get inside."

Two locks are recessed into a non-drillable hard plate on the enclosure's door, he said. "A drill bit can't get into the opening."

The $6,995 enclosure takes about two hours to install, Adams said, with most of the time devoted to anchoring it down.

Following the Tracks

In the UK, where ATM placements predominate, ATM operator Travelex is experimenting with installing GPS technology at ATMs so stolen machines can be tracked. Travelex, which owns 700 ATMs, on many of its machines already uses a product that sprays indelible ink onto cash during attacks, rendering it worthless. Fluiditi, an NCR subsidiary, sells the product, which is called Sentinel.

Tracking technology is "the next step" beyond Sentinel for high-risk locations, said Nick Cockett, Travelex's commercial director. ATMs will carry a label notifying potential thieves that a tracking device will be activated if the machine is stolen.

Although Travelex uses similar warning labels with the cash-staining product, "there has been a bit of a problem in the marketplace with other operators posting false warnings," Cockett said. "Criminals stop paying attention to them after they snatch a machine a few times and nothing happens."

The GPS device, called Tracker, costs "less than £1,000 per ATM (U.S. $1,834)," Cockett said. "One has to balance all of the available security measures and their costs to determine which ones best suit particular locations."

Haven't the Foggiest

Thieves can't steal what they can't see, said Laurence Gainsborough, President of Fog Security Systems. Because ATM smash and grabs are becoming more common in Canada, where his company is based, Gainsborough said he is seeing increased interest from retailers with ATMs.

"C-stores and other locations with ATMs also usually have cigarettes and other expensive merchandise they want to protect," he said.

The fog system typically connects to a store's alarm system and emits a thick haze of fog when an alarm is triggered, Gainsborough said.

"Even if the store's windows are smashed wide open, the fog's going to linger for about two hours; you can't see a thing. With the fog blasting at them, most thieves aren't going to enter."

For stores without alarm systems, the fog system can be installed inside an ATM and set to activate if tremor switches detect a disturbance or if the machine's power is cut off.

While the fog is dense, Gainsborough said it's a harmless mixture of distilled water and propylene glycol, a food preservative.

Gainsborough said his company has installed 3,000 systems, each costing $5,000, at "every conceivable type of retail business," including car washes, jewelry stores and lingerie shops. The systems can be leased for about $100 a month.

The systems are particularly effective at deterring repeated theft attempts, he said. "Word gets around burglary circles pretty quickly after that first attempt is made."

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