Bank Robbery Success Rate
Elangovan, October 2, 2019Kicking off bank robbery in the society requires us to know how successful it has been from the time past. With this, we will come to the understanding of whether it is dying off or waxing stronger. Let’s consider some few most successful bank robberies in history.
The $50 Million Theft in Lebanon
During the middle of Lebanon’s civil war in 1976, authorities had more to worry about than petty thieves. A team from the Palestine Liberation Organization took advantage of the chaos in Beirut and blasted their way into the British Bank of the Middle East. Without much resistance, they kept nearby streets cleared while they plopped themselves at the bank for a couple days to load their trucks. Two days later, they drove away with around $50 million worth of gold, cash, jewels, and stocks. At the time, the clean getaway (none of the loot was ever recovered) earned it a Guinness World Record for biggest bank robbery in the world (Laliberte, 2019). This was very successful in every sense of it.
The $81 Million Internet Heist
Welcome to the Internet of Things, where robbers don’t even need to step foot inside to make away with the goods. In 2016, cybercriminals managed to hack into the SWIFT system banks use to transfer money. They made fake requests to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for $1 billion to go from Bangladesh’s central bank to accounts in the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Officials caught on in time to stop most of it from being transferred, but the hackers still successfully made off with $81 million. They could have swiped at least $20 million more if their misspelling of the word “foundation” in one request hadn’t been a red flag (Laliberte, 2019). Here is another story of bank robbery which was successful in every realm and it, unfortunately, took place in Asia.
The $39 Million Impersonation Fraud
Police officers showing up at your home are disconcerting—finding out the officers are actually criminals in disguise is downright terrifying. In 2004, armed gang members did just that, holding the families of two Northern Bank executives hostage in Northern Ireland. The executives were ordered to go to work the next day and pretend nothing was happening, then let the gang members into the vaults after the bank closed. If they didn’t listen, their families would be killed. The bank execs did as they were told, and even though one’s wife managed to escape and warn the police, it was too late. The crooks had made off with about $39 million. Only about $2.6 million was ever found, and the ringleaders are still unknown (Laliberte, 2019). You can see that all the case studies shared so far made use of different approaches in carrying out their heinous act. This is to ensure that law enforcement do not rely on precedents to trap them down.
The $8 Million Justice Heist
In 1972, a group of Ohio burglars heard that President Richard Nixon was holding slush fund money in a California bank, so they flew to the Golden State to pull a Robin Hood on the money. They successfully sawed through the ceiling, disabled alarms, and drilled through steel beams to access $8 million in cash, stocks and bonds, and jewelry, leaving no trace behind. It seemed like the perfect crime, until investigators realized it was suspiciously similar to another heist that had been pulled off in the crooks’ home state. After investigators discovered fingerprint-covered dishes in the dishwasher of the home the burglars rented in California, they pinned down their suspects. To rub salt in the foiled robbers’ wounds even more, it turned out the vault they plundered wasn’t Nixon’s after all.
$1 Billion Through Mere Request
When Saddam Hussein’s son and an assistant arrived at Central Bank in Baghdad with a letter from his dad in 2003, the bank couldn’t argue—even if it was a request for more about $1 billion. “When you get an order from Saddam Hussein, you do not discuss it,” an official told the New York Times at the time. The men loaded up three tractor-trailers with cash and drove away. But the clean getaway wasn’t the end of the story. Eight months later, U.S. troops stumbled upon the cash in one of Saddam’s palaces and handed it out to American military commanders (Laliberte, 2019).
The $19 Million Heist Through Insider
As we all know from heist movies, having an insider on your side can be key to making a foolproof plan. In 1997, a Dunbar Armored Co. employee was fired for tampering with the company’s vehicles. Oh-so-coincidentally, the next day, six bandits got into the garage with keys in hand, then tied up some Dunbar employees before filling a U-Haul with $18.9 million in cash. The robbers then rolled up to a house party, giving them a solid alibi. Even though the former employee was a prime suspect, it took the authorities more than two years to pin down the men. Even then, $10 million was unaccounted for (Laliberte, 2019).
Closing Hour $300 Million Heist
When employees arrived to work at Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad one morning, they found the front door open—and about $300 million in U.S. currency gone from the bank. Three guards who normally slept there overnight had also mysteriously disappeared, but neither they nor the money was ever found (Laliberte, 2019). There is no doubt that this fraud was carried out by the guards that have closely studied and mastered the bank’s system.
Looking at all the given case studies, you will see that robbers are very dubious, smart and unpredictable in their activities. You need to stay proactive and learn how they operate per time so as to debar them before striking. Jason Koebler (2012) in his article also outlined the factors usually taken into cognizance before robbers attack. If the steps are religiously followed, they are bound to succeed. In conclusion, Joe McGauley also listed out some successful robberies in history and the tactics adopted which earned them their desried results.
References
Koebler, J (2012). What You Should Know Before Robbing A Bank. Retrieved from https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/06/11/what-you-should-know-before-robbing-a-bank
Laliberte, M (2019). 8 Of The Most Successful Bank Robberies In History. Retrieved from https://www.rd.com/culture/most-successful-bank-robberies/
McGauley, J (2015). The 10 Most Successful Bank Robberies In History. Retrieved from https://www.thrillist.com/culture/most-successful-bank-robberies-of-all-time-biggest-heists-in-history
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