[ISN] Md., D.C. Banks Duped By Phony Cash Courier

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Sun Jan 13 2008 - 22:33:51 PST


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/11/AR2008011103785.html

By Ernesto Londoo and Clarence Williams
Washington Post Staff Writers
January 12, 2008

To the annals of creative bank heists add this: Two Washington area 
banks turned over more than $850,000 in less than 24 hours this week to 
someone who impersonated a cash courier and claimed to be filling in for 
the regular guys.

On Wednesday, a man dressed as an armored truck employee with the 
company AT Systems walked into a BB&T bank in Wheaton about 11 a.m., 
was handed more than $500,000 in cash and walked out, a source familiar 
with the case said.

It wasn't until the actual AT Systems employees arrived at the bank, at 
11501 Georgia Ave., the next day that bank officials realized they'd 
been had. "When the real security guards showed up is when it became 
known," said Richard Wolf, a spokesman with the FBI's Baltimore 
division.

Montgomery County police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said: "The bank 
employees knew this was not an individual they had dealt with before. 
The explanation that was provided was that he was a substitute for the 
regular courier, who was on leave."

And on Thursday, about 9:30 a.m., a man dressed as an employee of the 
security company Brink's walked into a Wachovia branch in downtown 
Washington and walked out with more than $350,000.

The man had a badge and a gun holster on his belt, said Debbie Weierman, 
a spokeswoman for the FBI's Washington field office. He told officials 
at the bank, at 801 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, that he was filling in for the 
regular courier.

About 4 p.m., when the real guard showed up, a bank official told him 
that someone had picked up the cash, D.C. police said. The guard 
returned to his office and told a supervisor that he did not make the 
pickup at the bank. The supervisor called a Wachovia manager, who in 
turn notified authorities. Police were called nearly 11 hours after the 
heist.

"It's just an incredibly brazen act," Weierman said.

A law enforcement source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because 
the investigation is continuing, said last night that investigators were 
reviewing surveillance video from the banks in an effort to identify the 
robber and determine whether the same man committed both heists.

Officials at each bank and with law enforcement declined to describe the 
security protocols that cash couriers follow. Authorities are 
investigating whether any rules were violated.

Baur did not say what time Thursday police were notified. Montgomery 
police issued a news release about the incident late yesterday 
afternoon. Authorities did not say what steps, if any, they took to put 
area banks on alert.

Kyle Patterson, chairman of the board of the Independent Armored Car 
Operators Association, called the scheme almost unheard of.

"It's very rare," he said of successful heists involving people 
impersonating cash couriers. "In the 10 years we've been doing this, 
there may have been a couple in the U.S., but not with banks."

He would not say whether the dollar amounts provided in the two cases 
were unusually high. Patterson said armored security companies have 
detailed security protocols designed to avoid financial losses.

"My experience has been that we all keep a very close eye on uniforms 
and company IDs," he said.

Staff writer Carrie Johnson contributed to this report.


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