German crackdown pushes Dutch ATM bandits towards Austria

By Tom Sims

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -For years, it was a common occurrence: Dutch bandits would drive to Germany and in the dead of night blow up ATMs, grab cash and speed back home on the Autobahn. 

Now, a crackdown is bearing fruit.

ATM attacks have dropped to 115 so far this year, less than a quarter of their peak of more than one a day - 496 - in 2022, according to German police data provided to Reuters.

The spree of explosions has terrorized residents throughout Germany, where - in contrast to other countries - cash remains popular and ATMs are often built directly beneath apartments and in pedestrian zones. The damage has amounted to more than 400 million euros ($466.48 million) since 2020.

"The threat level in Germany remains high, particularly in light of the use ... of extremely unstable explosives," according to a September report by Germany's top crime-fighters at the federal criminal police, or BKA. 

Now the gangs are driving a bit further to Austria, where using cash is still widespread. Attacks in Austria have doubled this year in what the BKA told Reuters was likely "a squeezing-out effect from Germany". Dutch police have suspected hundreds of men are responsible, working in ever-evolving groups as new recruits replace those caught.

GERMANS STILL LOVE TO USE CASH

Underscoring the shift to Austria, prosecutors said a Dutchman who stole 220,000 euros from cash machines near Frankfurt in 2023 blew up ATMs in Vienna earlier this year, getting away with 89,000 euros in booty and causing 1.5 million euros in damage.

The person was taken into custody on a European arrest warrant and is awaiting trial.

Over the years, this modern twist on the old-fashioned bank heist arose out of two distinctly German factors, investigators say.

First, Germany is a wealthy nation whose residents love to use cash for purchases, meaning ATMs are aplenty. And second, Germany's famous highway network makes for a quick getaway.

German banks have also invested more than 300 million euros in security in recent years, according to the most recent figures from Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft, an umbrella group for financial institutions, a drop in the ocean for a sector where profits collectively top 50 billion euros annually.

The measures include mechanisms that blow a thick fog when machines are tampered with or emit dyes that render bills unusable. Many banks now lock lobbies around ATMs at night.

The thefts are less sophisticated than many online scams, where law enforcement in Germany and across the globe are battling a surge.

Last week, Germany announced arrests after a years-long probe of fraudsters who - with the help of German payment providers, sham websites and fictitious companies - stole more than 300 million euros from people in 193 countries.

CASES FALL IN GERMANY, RISE IN AUSTRIA

Cases fell this year in all but three of Germany's 16 states, according to police statistics.

The state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which borders the Netherlands, was one of the hardest hit in 2022 with 182 attacks. So far this year, they are down to just 25.

Despite the decline, collateral damage is still significant, police there pointed out, with one attack in January near Cologne causing 1.8 million euros in damage.

Police credit cooperation with Dutch investigators to locate and nab suspects. The majority of culprits have been Dutch, but some are German, French and Moldovan. Dutch police did not respond to questions from Reuters but in the past have acknowledged the trend.

Police in the state of Hesse, home to Germany's banking capital Frankfurt, created a tool that generates a probability forecast of an ATM getting hit, based on make, location and other variables. 

Last week, Germany's parliament voted to increase prison sentences for such attacks.

In Austria, cases have risen to 29 so far this year, up from 13 in 2024, according to figures from the interior ministry, which said they first detected the Dutch gangs in 2023.

Austrians have the highest preference for paying in cash in the euro zone, a 2024 European Central Bank study found, meaning plenty of ATMs.

Police there said they are cooperating closely with the police in Germany and the Netherlands.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Tom Sims; Editing by Tommy Reggiori Wilkes and Andrew Cawthorne)