Thieves Use Vacuum To Siphon Cash From Safes

Tootech writes "A gang of thieves armed with a powerful vacuum cleaner that sucks cash from supermarket safes has struck for the fifteenth time in France. The burglars broke into their latest store near Paris and drilled a hole in the pneumatic tube that siphons money from the checkout to the strong-room. They then sucked rolls of cash totaling £60,000 from the safe without even having to break its lock. Police said the gang — dubbed the Vacuum Burglars — always raid Monoprix supermarkets and have hit 15 of the stores branches around Paris in the past four years. A spokesman added: 'They spotted a weakness in the company's security system and have been exploiting it ever since.'"

Re:Noise

[MBGMorden]

With proper baffling you can quiet down just about anything. Also depends on the area. In many cities there's pretty much constant road-work being done. If they could possibly park it beside the street I'd bet almost everyone would just assume it was construction equipment and wouldn't even question it.

Re:well, that blows

[FuckingNickName]

What sucks enough must blow.

Re:You can make this stuff up.

[Rhaban]

try searching cambrioleurs aspirateur monoprix.

HADOPI

[srussia]

That's 15 times already that they've connected to the intertubes to illegally download stuff. HADOPI should have sent out 5 cut-off orders already. Oh wait, they are actually stealing real stuff? Carry on then.

Re:Noise

[Abcd1234]

Plus, you really can't underestimate the ability of people to ignore things that don't immediately concern them.

Re:beautifully done :)

[Anonymous Coward]

Depends, how much does it cost to fix compared to leaving the exploit in the wild? Although after four years of active exploitation, the point of diminishing returns might be coming up.

Re:beautifully done :)

[TheLink]

Perhaps it isn't hurting the supermarket enough.

The thieves have taken 4 years to suck up 500000 euros. That's 125000 per year.

Monoprix have more than 300 stores. If it costs more than 500 euros per store per year to install, maintain and support the extra security measures, it'll cost them more than the thieves are taking.

Monoprix might just be hoping that the police would eventually catch the thieves, and nobody else will copy them.

Will be a different thing if they shot or hurt people (since customers might stop going to their stores).

Lastly if the team has 3 members, assuming equal shares, each is only getting an average of about 40K per year. Not peanuts but definitely not a good way to get rich :).

In contrast, those infamous investment bankers and friends have certainly taken more than 40k/year each...

Re:This isn't new

[interval1066]

"It seems that for whatever reason this chain of stores hadn't implemented the basic security measures, or they were ineffective, probably due to human error (i.e. forgetting to set the alarm in the roofspace)."

Forgetting to set the alarm on 15 different "Monoprix" (whatever that is) stores? No, there was a fundamental design flaw in the system. They didn't implement a basic security measure, ie; installing a simple, one-way baffle or hatch that would allow the money to enter the strong room but not leave it, at least through the pneumatic tube system, was all that would have been required. Good allegory on security in the digital age; your only as strong as your weakest point. Usually its the system architect. I wonder if Monoprix had had this cash delivery system peer reviewed if it would have still passed into general use.

Re:Noise

[kevinNCSU]

Yes, but unfortunately dogs can't call the police and since they are the only animal which believes the operation of a vacuum cleaner is a sinister act worth alerting authorities for the thieves plan is pretty foolproof.

Re:beautifully done :)

[nametaken]

I'd always imagined the trick there is to present your case in a, "It's $350 per store, one time, but it'll cost you $1000/yr, per store, in lost/broken equipment and wasted man hours if we don't".

Re:beautifully done :)

[wideBlueSkies]

I don't doubt your experience at all. I can see things going down that way, corporate culture and all being what it is.

But I still don't get it.

If a guy with a small store would have to expense similar tasks, (locks on cabinets, a labeling system, etc).. at his level of the economy. Why is the same a problem for a huge 1000+ store chain? I mean, they are that big because they are making money - right? And you'd think that the economy of scale would mae the installation of some of these things even cheaper proportionally than it would be for the small shop guy.

Re:beautifully done :)

[Anonymous Coward]

How do you cost out not having a lock on a cabinet or not having a extra shelf?

Re:beautifully done :)

[jahudabudy]

Risk assessment. The guy with one store only has one store. If someone steals his server, he is tits up till he replaces it. If someone steals one of the servers out of one of the 1000 stores, there are still 999 making money for the company.