Protecting customers from jugging with video surveillance

Jugging has emerged as a security risk for banks and credit union customers. Jugging incidents have been reported around the U.S. in recent years including notable spikes in the Baltimore area, Houston, and elsewhere around the country. Seven participants in an organized jugging gang indicted in May of this year are said to have stolen more than $150,000 over a two-year period. But what exactly is jugging?

Jugging = following + robbery

Jugging describes the crime that occurs when a thief follows a victim from a bank, credit union branch, or ATM in order to rob them of the cash they’ve just withdrawn. (The term is also used to describe the same kind of robbery when the victim has just purchased expensive goods such as jewelry or electronics.) But they all start the same way: the perpetrator follows the victim from a more secured area to a less secure one in the belief that they’re carrying cash or expensive items. Often that less secured area is the victim’s home, but can also simply be a parking lot or a side street. And jugging isn’t necessarily a violent crime. If a banking customer stops into a gas station, restaurant, or store, thieves who observed the transaction may simply break into the car to steal the cash, or grab an unsecured bag when the victim’s attention lapses.

The new face of bank robbery

Old-fashioned bank robberies have seen a decline in recent years. One good reason for that decline is that more everyday transactions are completed without the need for customers to step into a bank at all, and larger ones are typically handled with non-cash transfers. When money flows more often as electronic signals, on-site cash reserves may be a less obvious target. Another reason, though, is a step-up in the security measures, including surveillance technology, that banking institutions have put in place. Video cameras discourage armed robbery of a bank or credit union by making apprehension more likely if a robber manages to complete the crime at all. 

Modern surveillance systems can go beyond observation and recording, too, by offering automated detection of weapons or directing video feeds for instant observation by third-party monitors, and can integrate with other security measures like instant building lock-downs.

Increased security at banks, though, has driven criminals to a weaker link – individual customers, who can’t be guarded at all times the way a bank can be. 

What banks and credit unions can do

On their own premises, banking institutions can control a great deal, from a cash-flow process that makes it difficult for a robber to access money quickly to the placement of armed guards, silent alarm buttons, and more. For remote cash points, such as ATMs or in-store kiosks, banks may have less control of the total environment, but they can still put strong preventative measures into place. 

In particular, a video surveillance strategy can help combat jugging across the board.  

Deterrence: Visible cameras and signage can make clear that customers are being guarded by surveillance even while they are standing at an ATM on an exterior wall or in a secured enclosure. That means thieves cannot remain reliably anonymous. Even the act of designing a system to prevent easy observation of customer’s banking activities may result in a safer environment, by considering the angles from which a criminal might observe customers.  

Intervention: While deterrence that results in zero instances of jugging would be ideal, it’s also unlikely. With real-time observation by bank security staffers or a specialized monitoring service, help can be dispatched in near real time if a jugging incident is suspected. Specialized person and vehicle detection analytics can help by watching for unusual activity in the area immediately around a banking customer.

Prosecution: Jugging may be premeditated, a kind of turn-key crime, or it may be spur-of-the-moment. Either way means the same kind of harm to the victims. While no financial institution wants to highlight crimes that involve their own business, aggressively working to prosecute those involved in jugging sends a positive message to customers, and a cautionary one to thieves. Prosecuting anyone engaged in jugging also concretely reduces the odds of repeat offenses.

In cities or other places where bank and ATM customers frequently arrive and leave on foot, closely observing the nearby area for loitering non-customers is important. Where most customers are in vehicles, using license plate recognition as part of the video surveillance system could provide valuable evidence if a jugging incident takes place, by providing a list of cars nearby at the time.  

Other measures that banks can take 

Video surveillance is critical, but not the only tool available to banks intent on reducing jugging’s impact on their customers. A number of other possible tools can also help prevent or mitigate losses. 

Greater customer awareness

While customers are commonly instructed not to make it obvious when they’re carrying cash, such as by counting it or carrying it uncovered, these cautions could be made even more explicit, such as with on-screen messages at the ATM. 

Duress password or panic button on ATM

When customers sense something off in their surroundings, such as loitering cars or suspicious onlookers, an on-screen or physical button can send a discreet message to the bank’s security team to trigger immediate attention. If available to customers as an option, a duress PIN (or “panic password”) could have the same effect. 

Improved lighting and design

Especially on their own premises, financial institutions can make design choices that make transactions quick, and less vulnerable to criminal onlookers. Bright lighting in the immediate area can make it harder for thieves to easily hide, and privacy shields can make it harder to tell whether a customer has made a small withdrawal, a deposit, or a substantial withdrawal. 

Direct audio messaging

If cameras are equipped with or associated with speakers, then suspected jugging incidents may be interrupted (or headed off entirely) by announcing to would-be perpetrators that they have already been caught on camera.  

It’s not only banks and credit unions with a jugging problem, though. The widespread availability of privately run ATMs and cash dispensing through retail locations including grocery stores and gas stations means that it’s easy for bad actors to watch for cash withdrawals, and then follow a customer who’s just made one. The same is true for customers walking out of high-end or electronics retailers.

For traditional financial institutions, this may represent an opportunity to define themselves as not only offering access to cash, but consistently protecting customers as well. 

Want to see how Eagle Eye can help cut down the risk?

Timothy Lord

Timothy Lord has witnessed and written about IT security trends and the ongoing evolution of SaaS for more than 25 years.