Security Spotlight: An ATM safety tip and tool, an armed bandit on the loose, and more!

Welcome to the April Issue of the Security Spotlight

Barry Thompson's Monthly Security Tip

Night Inspection Program
Some financial institutions forget to perform night inspections of their physical offices or depend on informal methods. As one of our consultants says, "If it wasn't documented it didn't happen." Every financial institution should have a formal night inspection program to ensure their facilities are well lighted, especially when daylight saving time is implemented. We have a Night Inspection Evaluation Form (Word and PDF format) in Bankers Tools to help you with this inspection. Remember fee income at ATMs increase if people feel safe to use your ATM.

Most Wanted: Armed and Dangerous

In and Out, Incognito...High-tech crimes may be hot news but old-fashioned bank robbers are still a big threat to banks. The FBI's Wanted Bank Robbers website features the most pressing bank robbery cases from the agency's 56 field offices. The FBI assigns catchy monikers to describe the bandits and may offer rewards as an incentive for witnesses or known associates of the suspects to come forward with information that leads them to an arrest. The FBI has even taken to social media to tweet their pleas for help. On February 19th, the FBI tweeted "Help the #FBI capture the serial bank robber known as the "Incognito Bandit." Described as an African-American male, 20s, with a slender build, the Incognito Bandit dressed in all dark colors, wore a dark hooded sweatshirt, ski mask, sunglasses, black gloves, and socks covering his shoes when he held up five banks in Massachusetts between September, 2015 and February, 2016. The FBI is offering up to $20,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest, and prosecution of this armed and dangerous bandit. Get all the details at: FBI.gov. Anyone with information should call the FBI or submit a tip at: tips.fbi.gov.

Check our Bank Robbery page for photos and information on the latest unknown bank bandits, many of them with sunglasses, hats or other head and facial coverings disguising their identity. Enforcing a no hats, hoods and sunglasses policy can help reduce the number of bandits who target your bank. Purchase No Hat Cling signs for all of your branches from the Banker Store.

Hot Topics from the Bankers Forums

Discussions in BankersOnline's public Security forum last month included incident response programs, forgery affidavits, and scams. If you have any helpful information to share, post a response. Check out those discussions and more here.

You'll find active discussions on more sensitive security topics in our "Private Security Forum," where bankers discuss issues out of public view. There's also a private forum that invites participation by bankers, regulators and members of law enforcement.

The private forums are the place for security officers to discuss topics like duress codes on keypads, checklists for the fired employee, security providers and more. If you're a registered user of BOL's Discussion Forums, but don't see the Private - Financial Institution Personnel Only forums near the top of the Forums list, use your bank email address to send an access request to brenda@bankersonline.com. Once your request is approved, you can access the Private Security forum here.

Please note: Our Private Forums do not include access to Bankers Hotline, or Compliance Action, which are premium content areas requiring paid subscriptions.

CrimeDex

Spring's start brings more of the same old crimes
Spring may be considered the time for new beginnings, with all the positive vibes that come with renewal and shrugging off the cold cloak of winter, but March's CrimeDex alerts show that criminals and fraudsters are satisfied to continue their nefarious ways from season to season. We had an average of 17 BOL CrimeDex alerts dropped into our mailbox each working day in March. It was one of the busiest months in our memory. Here's a summary of some of those alerts affecting banks and their customers:

Elm Grove, Wisconsin, police posted an alert with surveillance images of a suspect who had conducted several cash advances in banks in that community using cloned credit cards. The Oregon Department of Finance and Corporate Securities sought leads in a case involving a home-loan refinance advance-fee scheme that apparently operates out of Studio City, California. A Wisconsin police department sought information on deposit accounts in the name of an apparent victim of a combination of elder financial abuse, a romance scam and account compromise. The police department in a Texas city blessed with three Walmart stores asked for assistance in identifying two women passing counterfeit "Fleet One Check Plus" checks used to complete "cash back" purchases at those stores.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service reached out to CrimeDex members for information on any accounts connected to a suspect in cases of bank fraud, ID theft, credit card fraud and money laundering. This alert included a number of business names and aliases used by the suspect that could help bank security officers identify and shut down fraudulently operated accounts. The Folsom, California, police asked for help identifying a suspect who "coat-tailed" a hapless ATM user who failed to log out after withdrawing cash, and made another withdrawal after the victim left the ATM. Bank customers should welcome the increasing number of ATM deployers who program their machines to require a new PIN entry for each transaction, rather than one PIN per session.

CrimeDex isn't only about reporting crime and looking for leads in solving cases. It is also a resource for security training opportunities provided by non-traditional sources, such as the posting about an April U.S. Postal Inspection Service training conference in Philadelphia covering security and fraud cases involving mobile banking, Open Source, the Dark web, digital currency, Apple Pay and other concerns of the Inspection Service.

Get all the details at CrimeDex . The CrimeDex service is free to all financial institutions that are registered users of BankersOnline. If you have access to our private forums, read the "CrimeDex Service FREE" notice in the second thread of the "Private - FI Personnel Only" forum.

Facebook Blog

Throughout the month, we share news-related incidents on Facebook that can be informative examples for training employees on security issues and more. If you haven't visited our Facebook page, go there now and "Like" our page so you can stay up to date throughout the month. And share our page with your fellow Security Officers and bankers, so they can "Like" us and stay updated on the latest news as well.

Last month was busy and we had plenty of news to share. In case you missed it, you can still catch up on:

• You know it's a bad sign when a customer comes in wearing a bloody shirt, but who could have imagined what other crimes this guy was involved in? Check out the March 1st post for the details. On that same day, you'll also find another "dumb criminal" story that you won't want to skip over. Hint: "Here’s my ID."
• Our March 11th post is an example of why thieves don't need to rob banks when credit cards bring in a $100,000 take. Kudos to LEO for the arrests of this group.
• The March 14th post is a story that reads like a movie script, but as the bank's spokesperson said, it's a real take-away. Another post that same day could be about setting a new record. How many banks can a man rob in 20 minutes?
• On March 16th we shared a story about an observant citizen who called in a suspicious character, and seemingly prevented a robbery as a result.
• The Irish are known for their gift of gab. Our March 17th post is a reminder that "loose lips sink ships," especially when it involves a teller selling information.
• Something you may not consider is that the person servicing your ATMs could be in real danger. Our March 20th post is a lesson in ATM safety awareness.
• When one of your branches gets scammed, do they alert your other branches? Read our March 21st post to find out why they should.
• Going through TSA screening can be tedious, but they look for more than weapons. Read our March 23rd post to see why you should be thankful they do.
• On March 26th, we share good tidings about a Bearded Bandit who is out of the bank robbery business.
• And we ended the month with a post on March 28th about a new criminal registry that bankers may be interested in checking out.

Read about these and other informative topics on our BOL Facebook page. Be sure to "Like" the articles so we can continue to post more articles of interest to you!