At least 100 people have been arrested in a widespread scam in New Jersey on Santander ATM machines.
The robberies started in the early morning and continued into the afternoon of August 19th. The robberies occurred after it was shared on social media that there was a way to get money from Santander ATMs. According to the report, the bulk of arrests happened in Hamilton (20 suspects), across towns in Morris County (19), and Sayreville (11). Smaller groups of suspects were also detained in Bloomfield, Robbinsville, and Holmdel, while reports of suspicious cash-outs were also recorded in Woodbridge, towns across the Middlesex County, Booton, Randolph, Montville, South Windsor, Hoboken, Newark, and even in New York City itself, in Brooklyn.
Thieves discovered that there was a glitch in the Santander ATM system that would allow continuous withdraws from prepaid debit cards, like a Green Dot Card purchased at a convenience store.
"Santander is pleased to report that following yesterday's events, branches are open and ATMs are back on-line, though ATMs are open to Santander customers only for the time being," a Santander spokesperson told ZDNet via email today.
"Customers should know that there has been no impact to their accounts, data or funds, and we continue to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate this situation," Santander said.
The bank also mentioned that all its employees are safe, referring to one incident where members of a criminal gang had an argument about how to split the stolen money and got into shoot-out among themselves after cashing out one of Santander ATMs, as CBS New York reported on Tuesday.
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