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Over half a million stolen in ATM ‘jackpotting’ scheme, officials say

Four men stole more than half a million dollars from Connecticut ATMs and were charged in federal court, authorities said.

The robberies took place in August 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut. The men conspired to steal cash from at least nine ATMs that month as part of a “bonus” scheme that involved “using special hardware and malware that forced an ATM to dispense stored cash,” prosecutors said in a June 29 press release.

Euclides Moreno Itanare, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina; Willian Ricardo Flores, 49, of the Bronx, New York; Alberto Jose Freites Arvilla, 41, of Queens, New York; and Luis Jose Freites Arvilla, 38, of Lynn, Massachusetts, were arrested June 25 and charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy. Prosecutors said they were all Venezuelan citizens.

According to the criminal complaint, at least nine ATMs were targeted in southern Connecticut between Aug. 8 and Aug. 18, 2025. One of the ATMs had recently had a software patch installed that prevented the men from stealing cash, but a total of $529,220 was stolen from the other eight, the complaint said. An ATM located at a rest area off Interstate 95 in Fairfield, Connecticut, had the highest stolen ATM total at $136,000, the complaint said.

If convicted, the men face up to 10 years in federal prison for the interstate transportation of stolen property charge and up to 5 years in federal prison for the conspiracy charges. USA TODAY has reached out to the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Connecticut for comment.

How did the ‘bonus’ scheme work?

According to investigators in the criminal complaint, the men exhibited similar behavior at each of the ATMs they hit as part of this scheme, as seen in security videos.

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First, Alberto Freites Arvilla would unplug the ATM and use a frame key to open the hood and gain access inside the machine while Luis Freites Arvilla stood guard. Alberto Freites Arvilla inserted a card into the computer component of the ATM, then plugged the ATM back in, turned it on, and then left the area.

Itanare, Flores and Luis Freites Arvilla would then take turns approaching the ATM, inserting a card, entering a PIN, withdrawing cash, and then repeating the process. They sometimes changed clothes in between to “avoid suspicion when approaching the same ATM multiple times over long periods of time,” investigators wrote in the complaint. According to the complaint, the process will continue for up to several hours at each location.

Investigators said the men put the money in fanny packs or pockets. Photos taken by the men themselves show wads of cash on the seat of a car, in a plastic bag and in piles on the ground somewhere in New York.

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More than 500 thousand dollars were stolen from ATMs

According to the criminal complaint, here’s what was stolen from each ATM the men targeted:

August 8, 2025: $23,200 from an ATM at Cumberland Farms grocery store in Milford, Connecticut
August 8, 2025: Loss-free at an ATM in Cumberland Farms, Ansonia, Connecticut, due to a software patch that prevents this type of theft
August 14, 2025: $136,000 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Fairfield, Connecticut
August 15, 2025: $66,400 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Branford, Connecticut
August 16, 2025: $42,020 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Madison, Connecticut
August 16, 2025: $84,000 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Madison, Connecticut
August 17, 2025: $61,600 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Darien, Connecticut
August 18, 2025: $58,400 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Darien, Connecticut
August 18, 2025: $57,600 from ATM at I-95 rest area in Darien, Connecticut