Banks to shut outdoor ATMs at night to reduce the risk of explosive attacks

Dutch banks are to take all their outdoor ATMs out of service between 11pm and 7am with immediate effect in a bid to stop gangs attempting to blow them up. The Dutch banking association says switching the ATMs off reduces the likelihood of an attempt to blow them up succeeding. One of the ways thieves try to blow up the machines is to place explosives in the money drawer which opens after cash has been pinned. The measure is one of several put together by justice minister Ferd Grapperhaus, finance minister Wopke Hoekstra and the Dutch banking association and will be reassessed at the end of January.

All ATM’s closed in The Netherlands

I hope I put this in the right forum. Mods, feel free to replace it.


So all these gangs are blowing up ATM’s in the Netherlands... These gangs do not limit themselves to the Netherlands, but also work in Germany, Belgium and so on.
This are most likely East European gangs, from within the EU (Poland, Romania) or further from Belarus and other Baltic states.
Now the government has taken a drastic measure against this: closing all of the ATM’s at night.
Again taking away freedom ‘in the name of crimefighting’.

I think it is absurd and the least creative way to solve this problem.
Note that the funding for the Police in the Netherlands has been going down for ages. They are not able to do their work properly.

With the EU with the open borders, these criminals will never be caught.

Please take note of this. This is a part of the war against CASH money! All must be digital to track and trace!
When will this be implemented outside the Netherlands??

a reply to: Goedhardt

How long have such attacks on ATM been happening in The Netherlands?

Cheers

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

Many years actually... and it is getting worse.
In my local shopping mall it happened twice in 4 years.
I live about 1 km away, but it woke us up at night. These are really hard explosions.

The point is: of all possible solutions, this might be the least creative one. Blocking people from getting cash is taking away a big freedom. Many bars in my city are still cash only.

There are so many better solutions... even more surveillance.. but the police has no money to do their actual work...

originally posted by: Goedhardt


Please take note of this. This is a part of the war against CASH money! All must be digital to track and trace!
When will this be implemented outside the Netherlands??

Excellent point and quite probably true.



SnF

a reply to: Goedhardt

What a shame.
Too many criminals all over the world.

What would one expect when those in charge are the biggest criminals .a reply to: Night Star

We had some ATMs blown up here in Portugal, special a couple of years ago. One of the gangs used gas bottles to fill the ATMs with gas and then they would ignite the gas. Others used dynamite. We never had a real "wave" of ATMs being blown.

It looks like the police in the Netherlands are really using the cheapest way of solving the problem, closing them, but I don't think it would be enough, as the robbers will look for other ways to do it, like the gas method above.

PS: having access to ATM machines is not a freedom, it's a service provided by one or more companies.

Seems like a non solution to me

I didn't read anywhere about them emptying the machines at night something I'm guessing would be a pita to implement

So they will probably still try to blow them up to get the cash or just start hitting them during the day or even using the bombs in other ways to make money

Ether way I can almost guarantee the response from people willing to set off bombs to get money wont be oh well I guess we have to go get real jobs now

a reply to: Goedhardt

This is pretty scary, where I bank after hours they allow members to use the atm's inside the bank and the door locks behind you. Of course you can't get into the regular bank areas but I do feel more safe than using a random drive up or walk up one.

Now I know this probably wouldn't solve it but I do feel safer going inside and feel that to blow up the atm's the criminals would have to blow up the whole bank.

a reply to: Goedhardt

How's it restricting freedom, just take cash before the atm machine closes. If you can't do that before 11pm you have bigger problems.

a reply to: ArMaP

It's a big problem in the Netherlands and Germany apparently because of the geographical location.

Gangs from the Netherlands hop down to Germany, blow up some machines and race back home.

Apparently France had a big problem as well, but they cracked down with blank ink notes, and made it known. It's been going on for years, and years since the Euro was introduced. The solution is a easy fix, do what the French did. But the fix for the criminals is rather tough, you need to 'money change' which is a big issue in Europe for tourists.

To be clear: they put in 2 ‘enveloppes’ in the money dispenser (if you use the atm, but do not take the money, it will take the money back. Noe it will take the explosive enveloppes. They use stolen passes and codes).
Each explosive needs to go off after another, or the robbery will fail. There is a secure wall within the machine that needs to be blown up first. Then the second enveloppe blows to get into the actual safe.
If this all works, there is still a chance paintbombs go off inside. Then all money is worthless.

Apparently this still a good way to make a living...

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Having access to your own money 24-7 is a freedom. Having access to cash 24-7 is a freedom. I do not want to be restricted in any way! Many people work before 7 am. Many people need cash money before that time.

And here I was thinking that the easiest way to make the people live in a police state was to not tell them but instead just slowly put laws into place that makes it a police state. Shut down the ATMs, then businesses at certain times is just another way of placing in enforceable curfews.

originally posted by: Goedhardt
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Having access to your own money 24-7 is a freedom. Having access to cash 24-7 is a freedom. I do not want to be restricted in any way! Many people work before 7 am. Many people need cash money before that time.

So you have to plan ahead, I don't think it's that big of a deal.

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

If internet gets shut down for the nights, will you just ‘plan ahead’? If you’re not allowed on the streets at night, will you just ‘plan ahead’?
Or your mobile phone? Or whatever?
Liberties are not taken away all at once, they are take little step by little step. Like a frog in a kettle getting boiled slowly.
I’m alarmed by ANY liberty that is taken away, even how small it may seem!

a reply to: Goedhardt

I just don't see an atm as a freedom, it's a service provided by t h e bank, it's a convenience.

Before atms were everywhere people had to plan ahead if they wanted cash on hand, I still do that, I keep $500 in a handy spot just in case.

Seems to me people are just becoming complacent, I like this to driving around with gps, once apon a time people planned and knew where they were going.

To me this is another sign that the vast majority of people would simply perish if the power went off as they wouldn't be able to cope.

originally posted by: Goedhardt
a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Many people need cash money before that time.

Just to be clear, I have no horse in this fight, one way or the other.

But truth be told, I can't think of one possible scenario where a person living in a first world country would ever urgently need to pull a large sum of cash from a atm in the middle of the night for legal purposes.

Am I the only one who thinks ATM machines should be called something else?
I think the porn industry pretty much owns that acronym at this point.

originally posted by: Homefree
Am I the only one who thinks ATM machines should be called something else?
I think the porn industry pretty much owns that acronym at this point.

In The Netherlands they translate as ‘moneymachine’ (geldautomaat) or ‘pin(code) machine’ (pin apparaat).
I’m not aware of any other meaning of ATM, but I’ll do my homework