In-Depth: Brazil Banks Confronted with Growing Wave of ATM Raids

By Reuters – Reporting by Carolina Mandl

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than two dozen heavily-armed men stormed into the center of Guararema recently, rousing the Brazilian town’s residents with the sound of broken glass, explosions, and gunshots.

Brandishing high-powered rifles, wearing bullet-proof vests, and carrying several kilos of dynamite, the gang pulled up in front of the town’s main police station. It then set upon an adjoining branch of Banco do Brasil, shattering its windows and doors with crowbars.

In a coordinated 3 a.m. attack, police said, other gang members hit a branch of Banco Santander two blocks away.

Such attacks have become commonplace in Brazil: Last year, an average of two banks or ATM machines were robbed every day, mainly in small towns without a significant police presence.

Banks Invest in Anti-Theft Technology

Each ATM has four boxes storing up to 2,700 bills apiece, meaning one cash machine stuffed with 100-real bills can yield up to R$ 1 million (US$ 263,000). Bank robbers skilled with dynamite and working quickly will often blow up several ATMs at each bank or go directly for their vaults.

To combat the robberies, Brazilian banks have invested in anti-theft technology, ranging from specialized ATMs to facial recognition cameras. When that fails, or the costs become prohibitive, they have merely closed branches; as a result, some towns no longer have easy access to financial services in a country that already has a higher proportion of “unbanked” residents than China and India.

The outbreak of bank robberies reflects just one way in which widespread violence is taking a toll on Latin America’s largest economy, pushing frustrated Brazilians to elect President Jair Bolsonaro in October on a promise to crack down on crime.

“Crime seeks opportunities,” said Rafael Alcadipani da Silveira, a public security expert at think tank FGV (Getúlio Vargas Foundation). “In Brazil, organized crime is powerful, security in small towns is weak, and bank raids seem like an easy crime to commit.”

Expensive Cash Machines

Brazilian banks, which spend US$ 2.3 billion on security each year, have made headway against the gangs.

Bank raids fell 20 percent last year to 758 attacks, according to news reports and police records compiled by the association of private security workers Contrasp.

The tally, which has declined steadily since 2014, does not capture the rising scale of heists like the one in Guararema.

Whereas criminals once knocked over individual ATMs in the street, banks have now moved their machines into bank branches where robbers often blow open a whole row at a time, which only shows up as a single attack.

The shift in tactics illustrates how criminal gangs are adjusting to added security measures by banks, warned Leandro Vilaim, business and operation director at bank industry association Febraban.

“There is no silver bullet,” he said. “These measures are short-lived because attacks are always changing in nature. When banks squeeze the bandits, they find a new way out.”

Cash machines, sold in Brazil at up to R$ 150,000 each, cost roughly double those in the United States.

That reflects the price of tamper-resistant technologies including explosion-resistant safes, an ink that stains bills when cash machines are dynamited, and an average of 10 specialized sensors to respond to attacks – all of which drive up costs.

“Brazilian ATMs are so robust that if the country were bombed in a war, only cockroaches and ATMs would be left,” said Vilaim.

Additional countermeasures include ear-piercing sirens, strobe lights, and even fog machines traditionally used at nightclubs deployed to stun thieves. And Brazilian lender Itaú Unibanco Holding is investing in cameras that can identify thieves even when they use disguises.

Then there is the ultimate deterrent: shuttering a town’s branch altogether – an increasing solution that is leaving a growing number of small Brazilian cities without a single bank or ATM.

ATMs multiply

Some 200 towns that had at least one branch as recently as 2016 now have none at all, according to the country’s central bank. That is sometimes the result of normal cost-cutting, but in many cases, a direct result of multiple robberies at the same branch, according to bank executives.

Closures have left some towns with no source of cash, prompting several local prosecutors to file suits against the banks, seeking to reopen the branches.

“Complaints in those locations come mainly from business owners. People don’t have the cash to buy stuff, so it affects the local economy,” says Glauber Tatagiba, the state prosecutor in Minas Gerais.

The southeastern Brazilian town of Minduri, for example, lost its sole branch, run by Banco do Brasil, in July, forcing its 4,000 residents to travel 22 kilometers (14 miles) to São Vicente de Minas to withdraw money.

Months later, thieves blasted the ATM in São Vicente de Minas, so customers had to head 33 km in the other direction to the nearest bank in Cruzília, whose own branch had only recently reopened after an explosion.

“It is tough situation especially for pensioners, who have to travel to withdraw money as few shop owners take cards here,” said Minduri municipal administrator Lucas Magalhães.

From bombing banks to trafficking drugs

What sets Brazil apart from other regions where ATMs are targeted, including parts of Europe and Africa, are the frequency of attacks, according to security experts, along with Brazilians’ explosive of choice.

In other parts of the world, explosive gas is usually used to blow up ATMs. But Brazilian gangs have demonstrated a taste for dynamite, usually stolen from mines and construction sites.

One dynamite stick strategically placed in a cash machine can send thousands of bank bills flying within seconds, ready to be bagged by waiting accomplices. Preparation, however, takes much longer, as the thieves carefully put together gangs of at least ten people, each with their own skill set.

Gangs are equipped with high-powered military gear, often including tactical bulletproof vests, gloves, balaclavas, armored cars, and .50 caliber rifles, said Pedro Ivo dos Santos, who heads the anti-bank robbery task force in São Paulo.

Once a gang targets an ATM, they assign specific jobs for what typically amounts to a four-minute robbery. Some scatter metal road spikes to pierce the tires of police cars, for instance, while others specialize in opening the cash machines and inserting dynamite.

“ATM bombing is just the tip of the iceberg. Thieves usually start by robbing banks and later on use the proceeds to finance drug trafficking, in a move they see as career development,” said commissioner Santos.