Dallas is a startup for bitcoin ATMs the place the cryptocurrency will be purchased with money or exchanged for money.
In late March, two bitcoin ATMs had been ravaged by robbers who used high-powered pepper spray generally known as bear spray to overpower clerks and rob the machines.
Bitcoin continues to be comparatively new and has solely been round for a couple of decade. The new know-how has created new thievery. Police in Irving and Mesquite at the moment are in search of the bitcoin bandits.
A bitcoin ATM at a Mesquite fuel station was focused on March 28. Video exhibits a person shopping for Gatorade at whereas on the counter who seems proper on the digicam. He then returns and sprays the feminine clerk with bear spray. His accomplice then breaks within the bitcoin ATM.
“Seems like these machines do contain some cash,” defined Mesquite Police Lt. Brian Parrish. “Apparently, there comes a point when you exchange bitcoins for cash.”
Irving noticed the primary bitcoin theft on March 22.
“Once the suspects incapacitated the clerk, then they were able to just break into it and steal the cash cassettes,” defined Irving Police Officer James McLellan.
The motive is similar in each bitcoin robberies. In the Irving case, a heavyset man in a grey hoodie goes in and sprays the clerk. A skinny man in a Raiders hat then palms him a crowbar and goes to work on the ATM machine.
“It’s one thing to steal or rob from someone,” Parrish mentioned. “It’s another to hurt a defenseless clerk.”
Crime Stoppers is providing $5,000 for the names of the bitcoin bandits. Anyone with data is urged to contact Mesquite or Irving PD.
FOX 4 News is a FOX-owned station serving Dallas-Fort Worth and all of North Texas.
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