Is there a person hidden in every ATM? Is this legendary "banking top secret" true?

There are more than 1.5 million ATMs in the world and the number is growing steadily, but China is an exception.

The concept of a cashless society is becoming more and more popular because of its convenience. Everyone is actively using QR codes for electronic payments. In addition, ATMs are provided by banks. Not to mention the purchase price of 100,000 to 200,000 yuan, the space they occupy in shopping malls also requires banks to pay high rents, so ATMs, which represent cash transactions in China, are gradually declining.

If you also consider that each ATM machine has to hire a staff member to install it, the cost will be even higher...

However, since you sincerely suspect that there is someone sitting in the ATM machine, we need to disassemble the machine and take a closer look.

To hide inside a common ATM machine, we first need to understand how it is designed.

ATM disassembly

In the lobby of a bank, we often see independently placed cabinet machines like game consoles. This type of ATM machine is mainly divided into two major parts, the upper and the lower, which are assembled together.

The upper part contains the hardware and software equipment including the screen display and operating system , which has little to do with the space for storing banknotes, and only has a cash buffer. The lower part is the cash box and the banknote transmission system, which are covered in a super thick safe that weighs 200 kilograms in basic configuration.

Let’s take a look at an assembly diagram. Apart from the square steel plate protection, the only opening of the entire safe is the cash dispenser.

Steel plate protection

In the era of rotary combination locks, the safe below was protected by a steel plate sandwich with cement. Later, when it was upgraded to the era of digital keypad locks, it was protected by a full steel plate. How thick is the steel plate that wraps the safe? A guy abroad shot at it with an AK47 from 20 meters away and found that he could only penetrate one side of the steel plate, and could not penetrate the entire ATM machine.

Therefore, if someone really wants to hide in an ATM machine, it is best to learn the body separation magic first. With this skill, it should be easier to get a license and work.

The sound of counting money

Sometimes when we deposit and withdraw banknotes from an ATM, we hear a long swish sound, which is indeed the sound of money being checked and counted. This is not from the built-in recording, nor is it because the staff inside is drooling while counting your money too loud, but it is actually made by the mechanical structure.

Why does it take so long to withdraw a hundred dollars, like counting a million? Because every time you deposit or withdraw money, whether it is a few hundred or a few thousand, the machine will count the money in the entire cash box, and it must be 100% correct, so it will make so many noises. Don't worry that you are hearing the sound of the machine next door, or that someone is really withdrawing a million dollars, because an ATM can only hold 300,000 cash at most. I hope this will make you feel better.

Encountering suspicious banknotes

After depositing the money, the vacuum suction cup will suck up the stack of banknotes one by one and then send them to the conveyor belt behind the cash box. Each banknote will pass through these rollers, first measure the thickness, and then check the banknote. The thickness of a real banknote is about the thickness of a layer of paint. If it is too thick, it may be judged as adhesion, and if it is too thin, it may be judged as a counterfeit banknote. Regardless of thickness, each suspicious banknote will be sensed and pulled out separately and returned to you.

Manual banknote counting

Now, let's open the safe of the ATM machine. The neatly arranged drawers here are the cash boxes. Each cash box has different functions, which can be roughly divided into waste box, suspicious box, deposit box, and withdrawal box.

The banknotes in the ATM do need to be counted manually, but the person doing the counting does not sit in the ATM machine...

In the early days, the money in the old ATM machines was not circulated. The money deposited by other customers and the money added by the bank staff were separated. In other words, the staff could only take out a certain amount of money after adding money to the machine once.

Later, the recirculating ATM machine was developed, which can reduce the frequency of manual cash addition by staff. The money you deposit into this machine can also be directly withdrawn from this machine by others for use. In a perfect situation, if the income and expenditure can be balanced, there is no need for staff to manually add cash.

However, banks in my country still have a requirement for timely settlement of accounts for self-service equipment. Even if the ATM machine can achieve a balance between income and expenditure and reduce manpower, it cannot keep recycling the banknotes inside.

Most banks in China require that the bank accounts be reconciled once a day, and the money deposited must be manually sorted before it is circulated. It is said that this is because they are worried that counterfeit money may be deposited and distributed to other customers. Reconciliation is to manually count the money to ensure that the money is 100% genuine when withdrawing it.

In addition to checking the banknotes every day, we also need to compare the records in the system to see whether the accounts are consistent with the actual situation. Only with this double verification can we be safe.

If there really is such a person, where would he hide?

The above introduction is the counter machine placed in the bank lobby. It is a front-opening ATM machine and there is no doubt that it is impossible to hide people.

But there is another type of ATM machine that is often seen outside the walls of banks. It is open 24 hours a day and only has a computer operation window and a cash withdrawal slot. If you really want to hide people, you can only use this type of ATM machine placed in the wall.

However, in this case, there is still no one in the machine. Instead, there are bank staff in the small room behind the wall where the machine is placed, and they will stack the banknotes behind the wall during the daily count.

When the small room is operating normally, the overall structure of the ATM is still divided into the upper half, which is the hardware and software equipment, and the lower half is the safe.

Foreign media once reported that a staff member accidentally trapped himself in a small room behind the ATM machine when he went to add money. He didn't even have his cell phone with him. He had no choice but to open the receipt hole, write a note for help, and stuff it into the operator.

This is unlikely to happen in China, not to mention that there are various real-time monitoring in the small room, every action will be seen clearly and recorded on the disk. In addition, due to the need for risk control, banks stipulate that two people are required to operate the cash addition.

Moreover, the door of a small room is usually designed to be opened from the inside without a key, so it is unlikely that a person will be trapped in a small room and unable to get out.

Criminal law to relieve the itch

This type of ATM machine that is placed outdoors for use will be tested for water resistance in simulated rainy weather before leaving the factory. However, water resistance cannot prevent liquid from entering when the cash outlet is open.

A friend in the industry once shared a case where a drunk person poured a drink into the coin outlet, and then the machine broke down. The whole machine cost hundreds of thousands, and this one break down cost tens of thousands to repair. It reached the starting point for the crime of destroying public or private property, and he was arrested.

Article 275 of the Criminal Law provides that "whoever intentionally destroys public or private property, if the amount is relatively large or there are other serious circumstances, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention or a fine; if the amount is huge or there are other especially serious circumstances, he shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years.

Therefore, when you see an ATM machine and feel like touching it, I recommend that you read the Criminal Law, which can really help you control your hands.

Planning and production

The GIF images in the article are taken from 丨ATM | How It's Made and YouTube blogger Sicherheit und Service Westfalen eK's "Wincor Nixdorf - Experience Meets Vision.", Edwin Sarkissian's "is ATM BulletProof?", and The Next Great Magician's "Josephine Lee Separates A Woman in Half! | The Next Great Magician"

Author: Cast, popular science writer

Review丨You Shiyou, member of the Chinese Science Writers Association

Planning丨Ding Zong

Editor: Ding Zong