Münster/Düsseldorf (dpa/lnw) - In many places at night, access to ATMs is closed at branches of savings banks and banks - in order to prevent machine blowers from attacking more severely. At the savings banks in Westphalia and Lippe, 80 percent of the locations will be closed at night at the end of the current year, said President Liane Buchholz on Tuesday in Münster at the annual balance sheet of the regional savings banks association. According to the information, it is currently around 70 percent. At the savings banks in the Rhineland, in coordination with the police, more than 70 percent of access to ATMs between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. is blocked, said a spokesman for the regional savings banks association of the German Press Agency.
Both savings bank associations in North Rhine-Westphalia made it clear that a package of measures to secure ATMs was at stake. Depending on the location, this included fogging systems, money coloring systems, mechanical safeguards such as rolling grilles and also new types of pavilions with massive reinforced concrete construction. "They are very safe. That's very impressive," said Buchholz about the reinforced concrete structures, which resemble oversized advertising columns and are set up outdoors. There are already around 80 of these at the savings banks in Westphalia and Lippe, each costing 50,000 euros.
If the blast was successful, the perpetrators stole around 100,000 euros on average. The damage, including damage to buildings, could go up to one million euros.
