There was allot of talk about ATM robbing and heists on another thread. Having experience in the industry and this sector of the industry being what I excel in and concentrate on largely, I decided to write a tutorial to start fellow HackBB'ers off in the world of bank jobs. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: This ‘tutorial’ is purely for fictional purposes and so the author does not assume responsibility for any use of this information.

This tutorial was written by HackBB user SweetFuture at 14:00pm GMT on the 22nd of February 2012. Any copies claiming to have written this or not sourcing this work are false.

UK cash in transit robberies tutorial by SweetFuture:

I will start with saying that I would rather this guide is spread on a limited basis and not easily and widely available in order to prevent new security features creeping up. Only give it out for free to someone who is relevant to the industry. Also try and keep it off the surface web.

I have much expertise in the industries of the underworld; particularly in the UK. One thing that has earned me allot of money, hundreds of thousands, is cash in transit robberies. This is where you rob money from a security van outside a bank.

These kinds of robberies might not be to the average fraudster/nerd/hackers taste but in the UK they are very easy, very rewarding and best of all they only damage the big banks that print the valueless money again and continue to destroy people’s lives.

The reason such robberies are easy in the UK because every bank has a contractor that transports cash from exchanges and banks and all of these contractors are insured but most importantly they would rather have the insured money robbed than let their employees meet harm. The majority of the UK’s banks are contracted to a company called G4S. It is one of the world’s largest security firms, the biggest and most active and holds the strongest security practices in the UK. G4S are still ridiculously easy to rob as they are very strict when it comes to protecting their employees and employees are told to give up the cash rather than get hurt.

So far you’re probably thinking that you are going to have to rob a security van or hold one up at gun point but it is much easier than that. A guide can be written for those who wish to hold up vans or banks as I have also set up such jobs but I must also say that it is much easier to get caught with these jobs. All you need to do is rob the cash box off the guard while he/she is taking it to/from the bank. Usually the most valuable boxes are dropped off in the mornings as soon as the bank opens or even earlier and have trackers attached to the handles. A good way to notice is if the guard leaves the driver seat and spends a long time in the back of the van and then comes out with a box with a tracker on it that appears to be heavy and not empty. If the guard is heading to the bank with such a box it usually contains tens of thousands and is always a good one to hit and is usually unexpected in early morning.
These jobs are so easy that there are gangs in the UK, mainly London, that have school kids robbing these boxes and the guards always give them up!

So what security practices are in place?
Firstly, guards them selves are extremely well trained in spotting thieves and may run into the bank or the van soon as they see something suspicious. G4S spends millions on training their employees but if you are just as well seasoned then it comes down to out-witting the guard.

Other security features in place are on the boxes containing the cash themselves. There are many different ones and these features can vary from area to area. One security feature that G4S in particular have on all of their boxes is ‘Smartwater’ technology. This is a special liquid that bursts everywhere as soon as you try to open the box and get out the cash. The cash and you are sprayed with a unique ‘DNA like’ finger print that lasts around 6 months and can not be seen with the naked eye and can not be washed off. The unique fingerprint of that liquid is unique to that box and if you are ever put under a light test by the cops then the liquid will show up as yellow and when tested will link you straight to the robbery. This has a 100% conviction rate. Most importantly, there are ways to bypass this system.

The other system in place is a new system that was introduced 2 years ago and is trialled mainly in London. I have not come across the same system outside of London. This system is a glue burst system. Instead of or combined with Smartwater, a special, blue, mucky glue bursts on to the money when the box is forced open and this renders the money 100% useless every single time. Again, there are ways to bypass this; in fact the same method to bypass the Smartwater is used for this glue.

Other older companies may use ink to render the money useless.
Some boxes may also have a tracker on them and this system can also be beaten.
I’m going to make this a basic and simple skeleton for such jobs. All the little details are unique to each job and need to be judged by you. This may sound very simple but it is a foolproof method developed by years of experience. It is also important to keep things simple and not add too much extra stuff as there are higher chances for loose ends you can not afford to risk. And remember: “If you fail to plan – you plan to fail!”
Now for a step by step guide:

1.) Location: Look for a bank located in a place you wish to hit. You must study the entire area weeks before hand. The longer you spend in the area studying it the easier the robbery will be. Things you need to look out for are the average public presence, cameras, entire map and streets of the location, a spot for the getaway vehicle, police presence, CIT delivery procedure and general security.

2.) Timing: Every branch usually has a particular day in a week where the van will arrive, for busy branches this can be everyday. The vans however arrive at random given times for example from 9am to 2pm. The van will arrive in this window and the branch would be prepared. You can be completely opportunistic about it but your hunch for jobs will get better with experience. To start off you can be ready on that particular day or every day from 9 till 5 and do the job as soon as it arrives. Majority of the time the big cash deliveries arrive earlier in the morning.

3.) Getaway: you will need some effective way to get away, the car can be a rental on a fake i.d or a stolen vehicle or the best option being a stolen vehicle with wrong number plates on top. The number plates need to be duplicated from a vehicle of the same make, model and colour. The car will need to be located in a camera free area and your entire route is best to be largely camera free. The end of your route needs to be camera and public free. It is extremely important to plan this route thoroughly if you are to get away and not get caught. At the end you must burn all vehicles involved. It is advised that you study all the cameras on your chosen getaway routes as well as traffic rush hours, public presence and traffic lights.

4.) Dress and others: You should dress completely normal but only have disguises appropriate to your surrounding and weather. In the winter it is usually acceptable to where a scarf and cover the lower part of your face with a hat covering the upper half. In the summer sunglasses are good. Nothing that will give away a robbery should be worn like a ski mask - even when approaching the van. You should definitely wear gloves, preferably leather ones. The more disguised you are the better but the more unusual or ‘thievish’ you look the more chances of you getting noticed. You have to find a safe middle ground. DO NOT be stupid enough to carry any mobile phone during any part of the heist; instead leave your mobile phone at home with someone you trust. If you are clever then get someone to surf your facebook and send texts to friends following your average behavioural patter. This is so if worst comes to worst but you get away then you can prove you were at home on the internet and texting on your phone at the time of the job. DO NOT carry any form of i.d or anything other than the tools you need for the job. DO NOT eat any food, smoke; scratch yourself or anything else that will leave daft forensic evidence on anything. DO NOT do the job under the influence of any illicit drugs or alcohol. Also DO NOT talk about or text anything related to the heist on the internet or phone. All planning and talking about the heist is to be done in private under strict security and in person. Once a job is done forget about it, you will get used to them and wont be excited after a few so don’t talk about them either.

5.) Behaviour: Do not act shady and stand very far away from the branch. You can sit on a bench far away and watch everything from the corner of your eye, not face on. Don’t go into shops as you need to avoid cameras. Read newspapers or magazines while keeping a watch. Don’t bother with a porno like an idiot as it will stick in witness minds. When approaching the van do not run at it from far. Walk with the flow of public traffic until you get very close. Once you have obtained the box you run to your nearby get away using your planned route. Watch out for vigilantes trying to stop you. Do not prolong trying to snatch the box, less talk and more speed. Try not to cause a big confrontation with the guard or a member of public. Snatch and run. If grabbing take longer than 5 seconds or so then get the hell out of there. All you need to do is walk close to the guard as he/she leaves the van with the box in his/her hand and is heading towards the bank. The best timing should be judged after watching a few deliveries at a different time. A good opportunity is when the guard is just a few feet from the bank entrance. DO NOT do it inside the bank.

6.) Weapons: You may or may not carry a weapon and brandish them. Some gangs use weapons ranging from guns to knives and bats. You only need to brandish the weapon at the guard and the box is yours. Experience thieves only need to snatch and run.

7.) Getting away: Once you have ran off with the box down your planned route you get into your car and get away using your car’s planned route. DO NOT OPEN THE BOX! Both you and your driver should keep your disguises on until just before burning the vehicle at the stop. It is a good idea to lie on the floor of the car so you can not be seen. Get to your stop and burn the vehicle and any evidence with it. Make sure you use your flammable liquid in good quantity and soak the entire car, inside and out. Make sure your stop is at a dead location such as an extremely quiet turning point or diversion path from a country lane so that the car isn’t reported blazing until it is completely burnt out. At this spot you should have a car or any other method of transport to get you back to your hide out or next stop for your relay of get away cars. Do not open the box in the car unless you have advanced resources. When you get into your normal car then make sure the robber isn’t wearing the clothes he wore during the job, they should be burned inside the car. You can set up a relay of multiple get away cars but don’t get carried away as you may be wasting time and end up getting caught. Once you are in your normal car, dressed normally with nothing but the box, (or cash for advanced procedure), then drive normally but vigilantly. The normal car shouldn’t be your own car and should also be classed as a getaway but it is the car where behaviour becomes civil and you become a part of the public traffic. You then drive to your hide out and let everyone get out. The driver drives off again to a selected destination and burns the normal car and makes his way home some way or another.

8.) Opening the box: DO NOT be stupid enough to open the box in haste unless it has a tracker on it for which you will need advanced resources. The tracker is usually tagged on to the handle and is visible; trackers are only usually tagged when there is a large amount of money starting at around £30K in the box. If there is no tracker you simply wait till you get to your hide out. Once at your hide out the rest is very simple. All you need to do is shove the entire box into a freezer in order to freeze any dye, smart water and or glue. As there is no tracker it is okay to leave the box in the freezer for a whole day. Do not have anyone present at the time of freezing and only come back when you are ready to open the box. Be careful and look around before you enter the location of the box. NEVER handle anything without gloves and full clothing and even a face mask in order to prevent the leak of forensic evidence. Upon returning you simply analyse the box, as each box is different, and open it. You hardly ever need to break it open as they are just opened simply as the guard would need simple opening facility. As all the stuff inside is frozen nothing will burst out on to you or the money but you should still open it covered in overalls and gloves and even a face mask. Location should never be your own home and should be a hideout you don’t care about losing. You then remove the bag and unseal it and you can reap your fruits of labour! For a normal job you only need two people, the robber and the driver. The less the people touching things: the better.

9.) After a few hits you will have enough money for advance resources if you don’t already have it. The advance resources can vary and you need good contacts to be able to obtain them. You will need an advanced signal jammer which can be bought of the internet, you will need forensic overalls which can also be bought off the internet, you will also need a fake police car made by yourself via obtaining resources off the internet and lastly you will need liquid nitrogen at your disposal. This can be obtained from good links that work in labs or anywhere else you know. If you can’t get liquid nitrogen then you are unlucky. For the fake police car you will need a white Vauxhall Astra, year 2005 and over. You will need to spot a similar police car and copy its number plates. You will need to buy a police siren and lights and also vinyl markings stuck to magnets to create your own Police markings based on local models. Police markings can also be bought off the internet ready made but be sure to put them on magnets so you can remove them and re-use them for many reasons. The markings are called Battenburg. The more detail you put into your markings the more convincing the car will be. With the advanced resources you are able to take the cash out as soon as you get into your fake Police getaway. As soon as you get into your fake Police get away car in a discreet yet very close location with minimal public and cameras your driver will be able to race off with the lights and sirens on undisturbed. While your driver is racing off you need to have already had your signal jammer on so you don’t need to worry about the tracker which can be cut off using basic tools. If you can cut it off just throw it out of the window. Make sure you leave the jammer on just in case. Then you need to put the box in to the liquid nitrogen tank for around 10 seconds. Remove the box from the liquid nitrogen and open the box as everything will be frozen. Take out the bag but be careful if you’re going to take out the cash as well as everything is brittle and can easily be shattered – including the cash. During one job one worker of mine inside the car actually shattered a stack of cash worth thousands by brute force as well as dropping it. It isn’t wise to throw the box and bag out of the window as well as you will leave a trail, instead let them burn in the fake police car once you set it alight. If you can easily obtain more liquid nitrogen then also leave it in the car to explode the car but only light everything from a good distance or you’ll blow yourself up. If you can then try to take the siren, lights and magnetic vinyl marking off for further use. For an advanced procedure you will need 3 people: the robber, the driver and the person sitting in the car while wearing a forensic suit so to open the box using the advanced procedure. Again, the less the people there are the better it is.

10.) The last and most important thing is that you keep you stupid mouth shut. Everybody involved keeps quiet as haters will snitch.

Notice to the faint hearted nerd or noobie criminal this will seem like an extreme and unrealistic thing to do but for a hardened criminal it is very easy and if you have a good team of workers you don’t even need to touch anything yourself; you only need to set things up. If you have the balls and the know how to do this then go ahead, if you don’t then don’t complain or knit pick because this system has been worked again and again and is impeccable to the point where authorities are embarrassed of not being able to deal with it. If you don’t have experience in this stuff then shut your mouth as you may give someone the wrong advice and no: it is not impossible, it just sounds scary because you’re a bitch.
Go ahead and give it ago, be careful and be detailed. The more you know and the more you plan the easier it will be. Follow this properly and you won’t get caught, if you do get caught then you’re a brilliant fuck up and you should have followed this closely.

I hope you find this tutorial useful or at least entertaining. Do some research around this; Google is your friend. Have fun! :)


It would be nice to see this on the HackBB wiki.