Woman sets ATM on fire

A video of a woman pouring a flammable liquid on an automated teller machine (ATM) in downtown Kingston and then setting it ablaze, is the latest example of vandalism involving these machines.

According Dane Nicholson, manager of National Commercial Bank's (NCB) special investigation team, the attacks on the machines are not limited to vandalism. He said that persons have attempted to steal money from them.

"We have seen attacks where they tried to physically remove the vault by tying a motor vehicle and trying to pull it or remove the entire ATM itself," Nicholson told THE STAR.

He said that the attempt to drive away with the ATM took place about a year and a half ago.

"There are incidents where they would use a van or car to remove it. They never gained access to the vaults though. A few years ago, at another financial institution, they removed a machine that is yet to be located," he said.

"In another incident, you had some guys who beat and destroy the locks and did all sorts of things to gain access to the vault."

In 2009, an ATM was stolen from a petrol station in the Lionel Town area of Clarendon. It reportedly contained $2.5 million. Another ATM was stolen from a gas station along the Toll Gate main road in Clarendon in 2008.

While there are no recent reports of stolen ATMs, $13 million was stolen from two machines in St Ann and St Mary last year. In those incidents, the culprits, who have been charged, allegedly spray-painted the security cameras at the machine, entered a security code to the safe and stole the money.

It is unclear whether the attempt to burn the JMMB machine was motivated by a desire to steal cash or it was plain vandalism. In the incident, which took place on January 5, the ATM, located on Harbour Street in Kingston.

JMMB's group chief marketing officer, Kerry-Ann Stimpson, stated that at the time of the incident the ATM was already out of service and awaiting repairs as a result of a previous act of vandalism that took place on December 28, 2021.

The matter, she said, is under investigation.

"While we are currently not in a position to say when the ATM will again become operational, our clients will be advised as soon as it is back in service," Stimpson said.

Meanwhile, Nicholson said that acts of vandalism are sometimes carried out by frustrated customers.

"There are times when the machine may capture the card and they may destroy a section of the ATM, so it is not all the time that they are trying to gain access to cash. In one instance, there was a man whose card was taken away by the machine [and he] took a stick and damaged the screen," Nicholson told THE STAR.