BankersOnline Security Spotlight

Robbers wear baseball caps to try to keep our cameras from obtaining good facial photographs.Consequently, many institutions have enacted a "no hats policy."One simple step, however, can prevent baseball caps from blocking your cameras:Lower the cameras on your walls to below the six foot level, and you'll be able to photograph robbers at their height.

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Featured Security Webinar
Pandemic Planning & Response Techniques - May 18

Having an institution-wide Business Continuity (Disaster Recovery) Plan -- a plan that includes additional techniques for addressing a pandemic -- is a regulatory requirement for every form of financial institution. A disaster is often defined as any event that will significantly and negatively impact an institution's operations.

This presentation focuses upon the core components of the FFIEC's Interagency Statement on Pandemic Planning and the lessons learned by more than 2700 financial institutions during the FBIIC/FSSCC's Pandemic Flu Exercise of 2007. You will learn pandemic prevention and business recovery strategies, planning techniques and action tactics that you can use yourself -- and that you can then teach to others within your institution. You will also learn how to identify the real sources of pandemic-related loss exposure within your institution; the obvious and not-so-obvious methods for using your institution's resources effectively -- before and during any type of disaster; and the most successful methods for managing the maintenance and recovery effort until you can reinstall all of your institution's components.

Under Attack: Scams, Schemes and Frauds
Welcome to the May Issue of Security Spotlight
Your response to Barry Thompson's tip in this edition might be:"Now, why didn't I think of that?"Read an excellent article about robbers and repeat offenders, and a unique use of craigslist by a bank robber. Check out the link to a whole new collection of robbery suspect photos. Plus, find out what's new in our blogs, and learn about the new security tool.

Flu Pandemic Raises Bank Security Issues
When news started emerging about the H1N1 flu virus, many banker's minds naturally turned to the subject of pandemic planning.There is another related, not quite so obvious, security concern, however:as news reports showed a growing number of individuals donning protective face masks (either to keep their own germs in, or potentially protect them from airborne pathogens), how should financial institutions deal with these masked customers?What about institutions that have posted "No hats, no sunglasses" signs?Should we expect some smart robbers to take advantage of the fact that we might tend to treat a medical mask as being less ominous than, for example, a ski mask?Join the discussion about it going on now on Bankers' Threads, where you'll always find breaking news and views about timely topics.

Bank robbery is a serious threat, but a quality bullet-resistant barrier system can provide the protection your employees need and the unhindered access your customers expect. Total Security Solutions can work with you to design a customized barrier system for your unique facility needs, in new construction or renovation/retrofit. For a free quote or product brochure, visit www.demandtss.com, email us at info@demandtss.com or call 1-800-513-1468.
Who is robbing your bank? Pete and RePete!
FBI Special Agent Larry Carr, based in Seattle, noted that his region had 285 bank robberies in 2006.But if you assumed that meant200+ robbers, you are way off base.Half of the heists were committed by just 14 people.The fact is, many bank robbers are repeat offenders.Help catch one and you may not only clear one robbery, but you may be bringing to justice someone who has victimized several institutions -- or would have, if not caught.The examples below help illustrate the repeater problem.That's why we compile our monthly rogue's gallery of unknown robbery suspects.Someone knows these folks.Maybe this month it's you.

Tulsa, OK - 2009 bank robberies are 700 percent ahead of their pace in 2008. The pace started off so rapid that by the end of the first week of February there had already been ten robberies. One of the bandits suspected of having robbed four banksover the last few months is Patrick Manning, who was arrested in March.Lovely character.Because of a court error, Manning avoided a murder charge in 1988, and he was released from federal prison just nine days before the recent string of robberies he is a suspect in.

Tulsa, OK - Another repeat offender in January in Tulsa was a man who robbed two banks in one day.What was unusual was that in each robbery he handed a note to a teller and demanded a specific amount of cash.He also wore the same clothes in both robberies, about six hours apart.

Detroit, MI - Speaking of repeat offenders, in March, Alvin Murray was sentenced to 14 years in prison for 14 robberies, or attempted robberies, including robberies ofbanks in four counties last summer.

West Covina, CA - Police were looking for a man who had robbed 17 Southland Banks in just four weeks. The suspect, Brian Robinson, threatened to start shooting if tellers didn't meet his demands.In one Covina bank a teller recognized Robinson, who immediately fled, empty handed.We love to hear aboutsharp-eyed bankers foiling thieves!

Rahway, NJ -Robert Arndt was taken into FBI custody last September. He is suspected of robbing ten banks in five counties there.

Harding, NJ - In March, David Coates admitted to police that he had robbed the same bank on a Sunday afternoon and then again four days later. He was arrested shortly after the second robbery because his clothing matched witnesses' descriptions from the first heist. He also still carried the cash from the Sunday robbery.

Denver, CO - In March, police were looking for a repeat robber. The same man robbed the same bank twice in three weeks. He was suspected of robbing two other banks in one day.

Salem, OR - Police suspect a pair of armed robbers in January were the same pair that robbed a bank seven months before that. The duo use a take-over tactic, showing handguns and ordering everyone to the ground.

Collier County, FL - A PNC bank was robbed by an armed man in February. He ordered everyone to the ground and told a teller to give him cash from the vault. He then demanded her keys and used her car as his initial getaway vehicle. The robber's description leads police to believe he is also a suspect in another bank robbery in the area in October.

Trenton, NJ - Last December, three men were convicted of a series of violent bank robberies dating back to February and March of 2007. In one robbery an FBI agent was shot and killed. The three heavily armed suspects entered the banks and, in three cases, fired their weapons. In one case, a bullet that ricocheted off the ceiling grazed a customer's leg. In another, a fired bullet ricocheted into teller glass, shattered the glass and caused a bank employee to be struck in the face with glass and bullet fragments. Had that glass been bullet resistant, that injury could have potentially been avoided.

New Perp Pics
This may be our biggest collection EVER!On the BankersOnline Bank Robbery page, we are featuring a whole new set of 120 bandit pictures and information onthe latest bank robbery suspects.Circulate the pages to your staff. See if they remember this one at the left, aptly named "The Curtain Bandit" (how did he even get INTO the bank?)Perhaps one of them banks with you while robbing someone else.Go look!


Bank robber advertises for help on craigslist!
If you've watched the news in the last few weeks you have heard that the "Craigslist Killer" was arrested. Certainly this isn't the first time craigslist was used to set up a crime. One you may not have seen, that sounds like it was straight out of the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair," happened last October near Monroe, Washington.

A man hired a dozen people through a craigslist ad. Those responding to the ad believed they were being hired for a construction job that paid $28.50 an hour. They were given a location to meet and were told to wear a yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask, and if possible, a blue shirt. That happens to be what the man who robbed an armored car outside a bank at that location was wearing.The dozen decoys effectively hid the perpetrator and provided plenty of confusion.

Alerts & Counterfeits
In last month's Security Spotlight we provided you with a quarterly analysis showing that Alerts and Counterfeit notifications on official items were down for the first quarter as compared to the same period a year ago. The good news is that the notices for these types of fraudulent items are still limited.

In fact, in April 2009, only four notices were sent by the regulatory agencies. The OCC sent one alert. The remaining three were from the FDIC. While these alerts were from banks in CT, MA, MN and TN, all banks need to remain vigilant as the state where the originating bank is headquartered has nothing to do with the location of a bank receiving the suspect item. Perhaps the well-trained frontline personnel who are looking for these items are helping deter their use. If so, keep up the training.But keep in mind that what we're hearing is that counterfeit business checks are apparently emerging as the new favorite tool for con artists.

You can find the Alerts and Counterfeits in a searchable database here.
Blogs

In New York, bank robberies are increasing. Some believe robberies create a burden on the taxpayer and banks need to do more to stop them. Deterrents such as bullet-proof glass are one example. We also feel that banks can do more, and that they need to keep budgets at least level so that outdated technology can be replaced with cost-efficient, newer technology. It's all about hardening the perimeter and making the bank a less attractive target.Read more in the BOL Security Blog.

We already noted above, two ways the swine flu bug could impact financial institutions.There's a third we write about in the BOL Anti-Phishing Blog.As fears began to grow surrounding the swine flu outbreak,criminals began trying to phish for bank customers, attempting to take advantage of those fears. See our April 28, 2009 post on Pandemic Phishers.