Co-op turns cop in ATM crime coup
Gotcha!
The UK-based Co-op has teamed up with forensic technology company SmartWater to roll-out a new deterrent linking criminals back to the scene of an ATM crime.
In a “first of its kind”, SmartWater have adapted their dispersal technology to ensure that both the criminals and the stolen cash are marked, regardless of how the ATM is attacked – “precise details are being kept under wraps for security reasons”.
Phil Cleary, CEO and co-founder of SmartWater, says its products have “helped convict hundreds of criminals world-wide and retains a 100% track record in court”.
Cleary adds that ATMs protected by SmartWater “now represent too high a risk for criminals and the more professional will give them a wide berth”.
Starting in Wales and the south west of England, SmartWater systems will be installed at hundreds of cash dispensers located at the community retailer’s food stores this month (October), with a “unique” forensic signature at each ATM increasing the risk to criminals of being tracked and traced by police following a theft, and “helping to secure a conviction”.
The Co-op says the deterrent is invisible to the naked eye, and an amount of the gel the size of a speck of dust can provide the “solution” for scientists to undertake a “successful analysis”. The forensic signature is guaranteed to last five years.
