Five individuals from Venezuela have confessed in a United States court to their involvement in an attempt to illegally withdraw money from ATMs using a method known as ‘jackpotting’.
Details of the ATM Jackpottng Scheme
The group, consisting of Luis Alberto Velasquez-Artigas, Royder Adrian Figuera-Perez, Javier Mejia, Jr, Gabriel Alexjandro Corales-Garcia, and Italo Lizandro Corrales-Carrillo, tried to deploy malicious software on ATMs located in Wamego and Manhattan, Kansas. Their objective was to remotely trigger the machines to release cash.
According to legal documents, in December 2025, these individuals traveled from Indiana to Kansas with the intention of executing their plan. Despite their efforts, the scheme was thwarted when surveillance cameras captured their actions, leading to their arrest shortly thereafter.
Legal Consequences and Sentencing
The US Department of Justice reported that each of the five suspects admitted to conspiracy to commit bank larceny. As a result, Velasquez-Artigas received a nine-month prison sentence, while the remaining four await their sentencing outcomes.
FBI Kansas City Special Agent in Charge Chris Ormerod highlighted this case as indicative of a broader rise in ATM jackpotting incidents across the nation. This type of crime, which involves forcing ATMs to dispense cash using malware, is becoming increasingly prevalent.
Rising Trend of ATM Jackpotting
In February 2026, the FBI issued a warning about the uptick in ATM jackpotting cases, with over 1,900 incidents reported since 2020. A significant portion, over 700 instances causing more than $20 million in financial losses, occurred in 2025 alone.
In a related development, Venezuelan national Juan Manuel Gouveia-Aguilera, 27, was sentenced to 96 months in prison and five years of supervised release for his involvement in a similar ATM jackpotting scheme.
This case underscores the importance of vigilance and enhanced security measures to combat the growing threat of financial cybercrime targeting banking infrastructure.
