The ever-advancing world of technology has brought with it plenty of good, but also plenty of bad. It has brought about connection among the world, easier methods of payment, and a whole host of other things we usually take for granted. In that bad category though has specifically been new ways for thieves to target people. Cyberthieves have become a huge part of the 21st Century, and now the FBI has new warnings on a new criminal trend: ATM jackpotting.
The FBI is warning about this new kind of crime, essentially where cyberthieves can access ATM machines remotely, and dispense anything from money out of a personal checking account to stealing your personal information.
Criminologist Dr. Alex Del Carmen says this is part of the new world we live in now.
"Criminals actually gain control of the ATM internal computers, sometimes they physically open the machine and install malware...then when the person makes a transaction, all the information is stolen," he says.
According to the FBI, there were over 1,900 jackpotting incidents reported since 2020, with over 700 of them last year alone.
The problem though is not the technology itself, though that does have a whole host of issues. It is the fact the technology is advancing so quickly. It has become almost impossible for the law, or even regular people, to keep up to speed.
"The bad guys are becoming more inventive and creative...sometimes, particularly the elderly, they can be hacked very, very quickly," says Dr. Del Carmen. "We have seen those 700 instances in 2025 alone; those amounted to over $20 million in losses."
Just recently, a federal grand jury in Nebraska charged six people for this very thing. The Department of Justice says the defendants all deployed malware into the machines and stole millions from Americans across the United States.
While the law is trying to keep up, the banks are also doing their part.
"A lot of them are now beginning the process of inserting components into the machines that will give them an alert whenever they have been tampered," Dr. Del Carmen says.
He adds that the best things for you to do to avoid being scammed is to monitor your transactions in real time. If you see more money withdrawn than you took, alert the bank.
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