Five Venezuelan nationals pleaded guilty to attempting to empty automated teller machines (ATMs) using malware in a series of ATM jackpotting attacks.
27-year-old Luis Alberto Velasquez-Artigas, 29-year-oldRoyder Adrian Figuera-Perez, 27-year-old Javier Mejia, Jr, 33-year-old Gabriel Alexjandro Corales-Garcia, 33, and 26-year-old Italo Lizandro Corrales-Carrillo have all pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank larceny.
While Velasquez-Artigas has already been sentenced to nine months in prison, the other defendants are awaiting sentencing.
"Jackpotting bandits are sweeping the nation. This particular group’s strategy was to specifically target ATMs they thought were by design more vulnerable to malware," said U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. "Fortunately, there is technology to help thwart jackpotting. We at the U.S. Attorney’s Office encourage banks and other financial institutions to invest in these updates, and we’re happy to answer questions about how to do so."
In recent years, criminals have used ATMii, ATMitch, GreenDispenser, Alice, RIPPER, Skimer, SUCEFUL, and Ploutus malware to steal cash in ATM jackpotting attacks. The criminals install malware on the ATM's internal computer, which they can control using an attached USB keyboard or the built-in PIN pad, to issue commands to the internal cash dispenser and empty the money storage cassette.
The five defendants were arrested in December 2025, days after failing to install malware in ATM jackpotting attempts in Wamego and Manhattan, Kansas, that were recorded by surveillance cameras.