Security Spotlight: Robberies heating up, helpful rewards, and more!

Welcome to the July issue of Security Spotlight

In this month's Security Spotlight, summer is heating up and bank robberies are rising along with the temperatures. A couple of serial bandits will be celebrating the 4th of July behind bars, and some banks and credit unions are offering lucrative rewards to put thieves who hit their branches behind bars. The latest CrimeDex alerts are teeming with useful security resources, and Barry Thompson has an important tip for those upgrading to the newest mobile devices.

In this Issue:

Disposing of Mobile Devices
by Barry Thompson

Today's smartphones become old technology within one year. Apple's annual updating of its popular iPhone is one example of how quickly smartphone technology becomes outdated, and many smartphone users frequently upgrade to the newest mobile devices yearly. When doing so, be sure to wipe the information from your smartphone or other mobile device before disposing of it. For information on how to do this, check the website of your mobile provider or the manufacturer.

Tangible Tips

Lost His Independence - On July 4th, America will celebrate the 239th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Ironically, a young man gave up his freedom after robbing a Fifth Third Bank branch on Declaration Drive in Independence, KY. There were no fireworks or sky rockets but a high speed chase in excess of 100 mph ended with the apprehension of 31-year-old Brian Parnell when his car crashed into a tree after striking several other vehicles on the highway. Dubbed the "Sock Hat Bandit" for the varied knitted hats he wore during his heists, Parnell has admitted to nine out of ten bank robberies over the last two months in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana. In the robberies, he handed a note to bank tellers claiming to have a gun, but there were no reported injuries. Held on a $1 million cash bond, Parnell faces first-degree robbery, among myriad other charges.

His luck ran out - And in another ironic twist, a man known as "The Lucky Bandit" ran out of luck when he was arrested at a Hollywood, FL casino. Originally from Jamaica, Derek Bailey, 57, was given the Lucky Bandit moniker when he successfully pulled off eight bank heists during a six-month crime spree, without wearing any disguise, and managed to evade authorities. His good fortunate even held out when he hit three of the same banks twice. Bailey is facing faces federal charges for his alleged involvement in two bank heists in Pembroke Pines, and is believed to be connected to other bank robberies in Florida. He's not feeling so lucky now.

Rewarding Help and Doing Time for the Crime

Tip lead to snowbird bandit - Sometimes the tip lines offering rewards for information leading to the arrest or conviction of criminals are used by unsavory characters with the intent to "remove the competition" by turning in the other guy. And sometimes, the tipster is someone a little bit closer to home. In Southern California, police were searching for the "Snowbird Bandit," who had robbed five banks in four months. A tip from a family member lead to the arrest of 70-year-old Randolph Bruce Adair, a former LAPD detective who retired in 1988. Police are still piecing together the evidence and trying to find out what happened to lead a career officer to cross the line to career criminal.

Loan fraud - Security Officers often wear many hats, one of which is that of a trainer. Those who do may want to share this story with the bank's commercial lending group. It's an example of how those small-print disclosures saying it's a crime to submit false financials to a bank can have some teeth. A father and son who jointly owned various restaurants and developed commercial property needed to borrow money four years ago. Among other financials, the father submitted an income statement to the bank reflecting that he had earned $780,000 in 2010, while he reported losses of $1.8 million to the IRS. The "discrepancy" caught up to him and the father is currently awaiting sentencing on charges of bank fraud and money laundering. He faces 40 years in federal prison without parole, a fine up to $1,250,000 and restitution. Almost $5.6 million is to be forfeited to the government as proceeds from the criminal activity. The son, who discovered his father's fraudulent activity but failed to report it, faces three years in federal prison without parole, and a fine up to $250,000. More details on the case are available in this article.

Leading man for Jailhouse Rock - Up and coming actor Jason Stange was working on a small film near Tacoma, WA. A local newspaper wanted to do a story on the movie being filmed in their area. The director welcomed the publicity. Stange, with a distinctive tattoo on his left arm, was featured in the photo that ran with the story, which may lead to his next role – in Jailhouse Rock. Turns out, Stange had a different line of work before he turned to acting. In 2006, he was convicted of bank robbery and sent to prison. He was at a halfway house when he decided on his own to leave a little early...making him a fugitive. Federal agents recognized Stange in the news photo about the new movie and arrested him. The film is set for release in 2016 – it may be out before he is.

ATMs are the bomb - One of this month's Facebook posts (see recap below) showed how heavy machinery can be used to break into ATMs. While the use of explosives in ATM theft is less common, a second incident has been reported in Philadelphia. A 911 call about shots being fired has led to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Homeland Security investigation into an attempt by thieves to blast an ATM on July 21st. Parts of the ATM were found 100 feet away. A similar attempted ATM theft had taken place almost two weeks prior to this incident. Police suspect the two crimes are related, as the thieves were unable to open the safe with the cash in either case, but more explosives were used in the second attempt.

Two too many - On July 28th, the Conway National Bank in Myrtle Beach was robbed. After using a customer desk in the lobby, a man approached a teller and instructed her that this was a robbery. He got away with some cash, but Kenneth Green, 44, was quickly identified from surveillance photos, arrested and charged with the heist.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this year that the Conway National Bank was robbed. On May 7th, a different man entered the bank, displayed a handgun and announced to the entire lobby that he was robbing the bank. Tyrone Louis Harts Jr., 26, was arrested on June 1st for that heist. His list of charges included bank robbery, kidnapping, possession of a weapon during the commission of a violent crime, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, child passenger restraint violation and violation of his beginner permit. (Do you get the feeling the District Attorney was looking for everything to charge him with in this case?)

And, on July 7th, a different Conway National Bank branch in Myrtle Beach was also held up. In that case, four people have been arrested. When a bank is robbed, it's normal for the bank, and most likely all branches, to revisit the training that had been provided to ensure everyone is up to date on the procedures to follow, and that the bank is taking whatever measures it can to avoid these incidents.

Hot Topics from the Bankers' Threads

The publicly accessible threads for Security have been quiet lately. We encourage our readers to join current discussions or start new ones on hot topics that are impacting your bank. There was one thread on the requirements of ATM lighting. Those requirements can vary by state, but sometimes what ATM operators do and how often is decided based on risk. But, having defined requirements can help in recognizing and mitigating the risks. This is a good use of the public threads so long as the talk isn't too specific. Read more and comment here. More of the discussions, for risk management and confidentiality reasons, have moved to private forums for bankers, law enforcement and regulators access only.

In the "private" security forum, security officers were discussing employees named in the media after they were victims in a bank robbery, and more!

To comment in Bankers' Threads you must be a registered user. You can register here. If using your bank email account, you will be given access to the private forums. The Private area is a group of forums under the heading "Private - Financial Institution Personnel Only." The Private forums do not include access to Bankers Hotline or Compliance Action, premium content areas that require paid subscriptions to those respective publications.

If you are already registered for the Threads, but don't yet have access to the private forums, using your bank email address send a request for access to brenda@bankersonline.com. Please verify that you do not yet have Private access. Once your registration request is approved, you can access the Private Security forum here.

CrimeDex alerts teeming with useful security resources

More than 250 BOL CrimeDex alerts crossed our desk last month. Those related to banks and banking provide information that a bank security officer can use to spot new security threats, identify new scams or scammers in the local area, and capture opportunities to collaborate with others in tracking down thieves and scammers who have victimized a bank or its customers. Here are some samples from last month's alerts:

Re-encoded credit cards are involved in a case reported by Kansas authorities investigating two Cuban resident aliens from Miami, Florida, who used the cards to purchase thousands of dollars in merchandise from Nordstrom's.
The Alexandria, Virginia, police department is searching for bank accounts in the name of Gary Lowery Smith, in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest in connection with a fraud scheme under investigation.
A Florida bank posted security photos and asked for help identifying the individual cashing or attempting to cash counterfeit checks drawn on the account of a West Palm Beach customer.
A U.S. Secret Service agent asked for banks in the Chicagoland area to contact him if they discovered that one of their ATMs had a skimmer and pin-hole camera installed, and included a suggested method for checking for those skimming tools on NCR ATMs.
Fairfield, Connecticut, police posted photos of an individual suspected of an account takeover involving an $8,000 withdrawal from the victim's account, using the victim's stolen driver's license for ID at a supermarket bank branch.
Escondido, California, police sought help identifying a suspect in an ATM shoulder-surfing incident in which the suspect used a cell phone to record the victim's PIN-pad input, caused a loud disturbance to frighten the elderly female cardholder into leaving the ATM before ending her ATM session, and input the woman's PIN to steal $500 from the woman's savings account.

Throughout the month, we share news-related incidents on Facebook that can be informative examples for training employees on security issues and more. We are pleased to see our number of followers growing but we need your help to spread the word. Visit us on Facebook, "Like" our page, and share it with your co-workers so they too can stay updated on the latest news.

June was another busy month on the BOL Facebook page as criminals were busy hitting banks, and more. Catch up on these latest posts:

A thief who robbed two different Chase bank branches in about 30 minutes and cased another bank in-between them. Read more on the Bluto Bandit story posted June 23.
So you think two banks in half an hour is unusual? Another story is posted with the same scenario, sans the casing in-between. In that case two Portland, Maine, banks were robbed – just blocks from the police station.
What happens when you get pulled over and have a fake driver's license? If you're the subject of our June 12 post, you get arrested with 700 other fake credit and debit cards.
And, on June 1st we posted a follow-up on the Kearney Bank ATM skimmer who stole more than $100,000.

First published on 07/01/2015

Briefing type:

Security Spotlight

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