BankersOnline Security Spotlight

During robbery training a teller asked me how the robber knew the bank had recently installed dye packs?This question is common after a robbery where the criminal passes a note stating don't give me the dye pack or more recently the GPS pack.The teller was surprised by the answer, "the robber didn't know you had dye packs.He had learned at criminal university (prison) exactly how to write the robbery note."When training your staff let them know that robbers prepare in advance, even down to the details of writing the robbery note.

Featured Security Webinar

Security Blunders: Show & Tell
January 19 —
byBarry Thompson
Can you see banking facilities through the criminal's eyes?Is your financial institution facility safe and secure? Don't put your account holders, employees, and potentially thousands of your asset dollars at risk!

Assessing the risks involved with the operation of a financial institution is a major concern of every CEO, operations staff, and security officer. Financial institutions often unwittingly make themselves targets for criminals and robbers. In this program we'll use actual pictures showing situations that make financial institutions targets for criminal attacks. Take advantage of mistakes others have made with physical security and avoid them yourself.

BSA/AML Compliance: Recent Developments & Common Errors
January 24 —
by Ken Golliher
No other federal regulation contains more stringent, enforceable training requirements than those relating to Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance. Even experienced personnel are expected to maintain their knowledge level with ongoing education. However, sometimes sitting through a full day BSA program leaves experienced personnel hoping for "knowledge nuggets" between the reviews of long-standing requirements.

This program is designed to make that continuing education requirement more efficient and effective. However, the manual is the one that the presenter uses in a full day seminar. It is approximately 125 pages long and includes a full review of domestic BSA requirements. However, this session focuses on specific pulse points in BSA compliance.

Annual LENDING Compliance Recap
January 27 —

by Mary Beth Guard and Andy Zavoina
In almost every robbery situation the criminal has been inside your bank and has cased the building. This program arms you with vital insights into why the robber(s) selected your bank. You will understand what the signals are that tell a criminal your bank is the one to rob. Knowing why your institution is selected allows you to alter your physical layout, change procedures and develop a program filled with robbery mitigation factors.

Staff must acknowledge that robberies can occur and they are prepared to deal with it. Their powers of observation are very important and must be nurtured to protect the financial institution. During the robbery they must know what actions can increase danger to themselves and others. This presentation will provide a wealth of information on the actions that will bring harm to employees or others during a robbery event.

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Handling Critical Incidents: The Robbery Issue

Welcome to the January Issue of Security Spotlight

This month, read about two bank robbers who put the spotlight on themselves. Oursecurity shorts selection highlights thieves who try to hide in plain sight and a warning that theft doesn't always come from outside the bank. Get a 2010 recap of alerts and counterfeits and Crimedex alerts that show thieves don't take holiday breaks.

Putting themselves in the spotlight...

"The Man" fingered by fans...
Nicholas W. Wilson, AKA "Nick Gage" or "The Man," is a superstar and well-known by fans of hardcore wrestling. Competing in more Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) matches than any wrestler, the first man to win the CZW championship and CSW's only Grand Slam championship are Wilson's claims to fame. The 30-year-old Camden, NJ native can add "Most Wanted" for bank robbery to his list of conquests. The pro wrestler is charged with robbing a PNC Bank branch in South Jersey after fans identified him from clear surveillance footage taken of Wilson leaving the bank the day of the robbery.Fan letters can be mailed to Camden County Jail where Wilson is being held on $150,000 bond.

Mixing work and bank robbery
Neither the pink hospital scrubs nor the Darth Vader mask he wore was enough to disguise Gregory Sanchez, 46, as the bandit who robbed a Bank of America branch located inside the Albertson's supermarket in southern California. Wielding a hatchet and wearing a black wig and gloves, Sanchez was dressed in pink scrubs and a Darth Vader-type mask when he approached a bank teller at the supermarket branch of Bank of America and demanded money. With his bank robbery duties completed, it was business as usual for the thief. Sanchez went to work - in his regular job as a "courtesy clerk" at the same grocery store where the bank he just robbed was located. Police didn't have far to go when they arrested Sanchez just three hours after the crime while he was working.May the force be with him as he faces charges for bank robbery.

Check our Bank Robbery page for photos and information on all the latest robbery suspects.



Learning from others
and internal thieves

Learning from others - Learning from the actions of others is an important part of the security business. Not everyone has a TV in their office or access to CNN. But as it was happening, bankers were keeping a thread updated while a robbery at a Chase branch in Pearland, TX turned into a hostage situation. That thread is in the Private forum.The hostages were eventually released and the robbers captured.Bail was set at $13 million as the two suspects were each charged with 13 counts of aggravated robbery.

Hiding in plain sight - In another Texas bank robbery, this time in Killeen, two women robbed a First National Bank Texas branch at 5PM on December 23rd. The description provided to police was that of a "black person of unknown gender approximately 5' 6" tall" who fled on foot and may have been joined by another person.As police were surveying the area following the robbery, the spotted two females outside a bowling alley just 600 feet from the bank. The women told police they were waiting for a cab. They were detained for questioning and later charged not only with this bank robbery, but also one a few days earlier at a Subway restaurant.Sometimes even the barest of descriptions will help locate someone hiding in plain sight.

Not just a guy thing - Statistically, females are not the primary gender when it comes to bank robbery. But that doesn't mean they don't rob banks at all. In Raleigh, NC police are looking for a female serial robber.A heavy set woman robbed a Wachovia branch recently. Police suspect her of also robbing banks in Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, S.C., in October.The N.C. Bankers Association offers a reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of anyone responsible for robbing a bank in North Carolina. More on this and other cases is also at NCBankRobbers.

It was an inside job - What should a security officer be responsible for? Sure, you try to stop thefts from the bank. But what could have been done differently at the Meriden State Bank in Kansas where the bank president embezzled over $100,000? Scott Becker, the bank president, had the board approve a new branch in Topeka, KS. Becker was the undisclosed general contractor and, working with others in his scheme, overcharged the bank and pocketed the difference. He has been sentenced to five years. Sentencing for his two accomplices is pending. The lesson here is to ensure your bank has procedures in place to protect itself from any similar theft.

Crash and grab -The BOL Security Blog features a story on the FBI investigating the theft of ATMs. In an old scam that may be gaining popularity again, we are seeing more stories about "crash and grab" thefts.In Vancouver, WA a minivan crashed through the doors of Allen's Crosley Lanes at approximately 3:00 am. The bowling alley surveillance camera shows the vehicle crashing in and an individual putting the ATM in the minivan and driving away. It is possible that the cost of the building repairs and the ATM itself exceed any cash that was inside it.

Alerts & Counterfeits
As you recall from the December Security Spotlight there were no Alerts sent by the regulators in November. That was the first time we had seen that number and we felt December may be a month of catching up, but no. December 2010 had only fifteen reports which was fairly light. All were from the FDIC, and there was the normal mix of check types. An unusual alert pertained to unauthorized banking in Canada.

This month we'll provide you with an annual recap of the alerts from 2010. As you train staff, you'll be able to use this information to point out the most frequently counterfeited items and therefore the ones to watch out for the most.

Cashier's Checks lead the counterfeit items as they are 63 percent of the reported items last year. Official checks were the next largest category at 20 percent. The other 8 categories were all 4 percent or less. Interestingly you can see in the table below that some items come and go. There were no counterfeit Treasury checks in the first or second quarters. There were also no counterfeit Missouri Dept. of Revenue Checks in the third or fourth quarters. Counterfeit money orders were only reported in the second quarter, and then only twice. Over all most categories posed minimal risk of loss to most institutions and that is a good thing - unless you were on the deposit side of one of those items.

You'll find all the alerts on the BOL Alerts & Counterfeits page.

Q1-2010Q2-2010Q3-2010Q4-2010YTDCounterfeit Cashier's Checks 2240251299Counterfeit Official Checks 989531Counterfeit Checks 1517Counterfeit Missouri Dept. of Rev Checks 426Counterfeit Treasury Checks415Counterfeit Personal Money Orders 1113Counterfeit Money Orders 22Counterfeit Bank Check112Counterfeit Official Bank Checks11Other11238594021158

No break for the holidays

Security professionals and law enforcement across the country posted CrimeDex alerts in December, proving that bank robbers, fraud artists and other assorted crooks don't slow down for the holidays. To start the month, Somerville, MA police posted an alert on a December 4 bank robbery in which the suspect passed a note warning "no die [sic] packs" (See Barry Thompson's article). Other alerts involved an ATM in Irvine, CA that had been compromised with a skimming device and micro camera for the fourth time; a request from a megabank for assistance in identifying an individual impersonating its customers in Las Vegas bank branches; an announcement of the arrest of a new account fraud artist disguised as a priest; and the usual assortment of bank robberies, check fraud scams, credit card fraud and other attempts to separate banks, merchants and their customers from their money.

Subscribe to BOL CrimeDex to receive alerts that can help you avoid security challenges and lapses that could expose your bank to losses.

Need an example of why you have internal controls? Employee theft is only one reason and it does happen. You'll read about one case in the Security Blog as well as another in our Security Shorts.

You'll also read about ATM thefts in both the Blog and the Shorts. And we don't mean debit card abuse. Get the story at the Security Blog.

If you get involved in risk rating your new customers, you may be interested in a new tool just for this. By using this form you can get everyone on the same sheet of music, so to speak, and have consistency in your ratings. While there check out the other free tools BOL has to offer at the Banker Tools page.

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