A group of four robbers netted more than $500,000 in an elaborate “jackpotting” scheme targeting ATMs at rest stops along Interstate 95 in Connecticut, federal prosecutors in the state have alleged.
The men targeted at least nine cash machines during a 10-day spree in August, according to a press release on Monday by the US attorney’s office, which charged the four with a range of federal offenses.
Prosecutors say the group used “specialized hardware and malware” to corrupt the machines and force them to dispense an almost unlimited amount of cash. In just one raid, at a northbound rest stop on the I-95 in Fairfield, the gang scooped up $136,000, they said.
Their overall haul reached $529,220 from eight ATMs between 8 and 18 August 2025, court documents state. A software patch installed to try to prevent such robberies thwarted the alleged robbers at another machine in Ansonia on the first day of the spree.
Two of the men live in New York, one is from North Carolina and the fourth is a resident of Massachusetts.
All four are citizens of Venezuela, said the attorney’s office, which named them as Euclides Moreno Itanare, 28; Willian Ricardo Flores, 49; Alberto Jose Freites Arvilla, 41; and Luis Jose Freites Arvilla, 38.
“For each of the thefts, the pattern of behavior was similar,” the press release said.
“Surveillance video shows that while Luis Freites Arvilla acted as a lookout, Alberto Freites Arvilla opened the hood of the ATM, accessed the internal components of the ATM, and then left the area,” the press release added.
“Over the course of several hours, Luis Freites Arvilla, Itanare, and Flores then took turns withdrawing cash from the ATM.”
It noted that the group also made efforts to disguise their appearance, saying: “The defendants sometimes changed clothes in an attempt to avoid suspicion when approaching the same ATM multiple times.”
The four were arrested on Thursday after a joint investigation by the FBI, Connecticut state police and the police departments of Raleigh, North Carolina, and New York.
They remain in custody awaiting court proceedings on charges of interstate transportation of stolen property – an offense that carries a maximum prison term of 10 years – and conspiracy, for which they could be imprisoned for up to five years if convicted.
Photographs said to have been taken by the alleged robbers, released by the US attorney’s office, show the men variously tinkering with ATM machines, and showing off large wads of cash they collected.
The Guardian reported in 2018 warnings by two of the world’s largest ATM manufacturers, and the US Secret Service, that cybercriminals were targeting the machines with nefarious software in order to extract cash.
