BMW Police Chase Ends In Cash Giveaway After Suspects Toss $52,000

For a brief time, two unidentified men in Plainfield, Connecticut, probably thought they had hit the jackpot after allegedly swindling $52,000 from an ATM at a gas station. However, it wasn’t long before they lost it all.

Earlier this month, two men entered a gas station in Plainfield, hours after previously scoping it out in a black BMW SUV. One of the men approached a cash machine and is believed to have used a trick piece of software that allowed him to hack the system and withdraw $52,000.

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Police were alerted to the site and told someone was tampering with the ATM and looking in parked cars. One witness who spoke with Nexstar’s WTNH claimed she spotted one of the suspects near the store’s ATM. “The guy was standing there for a good 20, 25 minutes,” the woman said. “He had a little sack in front of him. And so, I just thought that it was weird he was there that long.”

The men soon fled with their loot, and authorities started to chase them. Perhaps nervous about what would happen if they got caught, the men threw several items out of the BMW. These included a backpack which police recovered. Found within the backpack were $52,000 worth of $20 notes, a mobile hotspot device, and an iPhone.

The chase was called off after the BMW hit high speeds, Fox 2 Now reports.

According to Connecticut State Police Sgt. Luke Davis, this form of ATM theft is known as ‘jackpotting,’ and it’s a growing problem across the United States.

“It’s way more advanced than the typical smash-and-grab of an ATM being yanked out from a business,” Davis said. “Now, this software can be used to bypass the security systems of an ATM and basically give what’s referred to as a ‘jackpot payout.’”

Image credit: Fox 2 Now