Thief puts ‘payloader’ to literal use, tries to scoop up and steal a Colorado ATM
Like the police said, “you can’t make this stuff up.”
Sometime overnight between Friday and Saturday, someone tried to steal an ATM from a Wells Fargo bank in Aurora, Colorado, according to KDVR in Denver.
They tried to pull off the dastardly drive-thru deed with a front-end loader.
“Someone misunderstood the purpose of a Payloader,” the Aurora Police Department joked when it posted photos of the attempted heist on its Facebook page.
When the department tweeted about it, it included a little tractor emoji with its news bulletin.
The only thing the thief, or thieves, managed to do was shove the ATM over onto the ground, the police department’s photos show.
The ATM and the heavy piece of equipment were both left behind.
“ATM: 1. TRACTOR: 0,” the police wrote on Facebook.
The suspect is still at large and police plan to look at surveillance video for clues, they said.
“It’s so scary,” bank customer Nurhan Demiri, told KDVR. “I always come here to get my transactions through the ATM, to get withdrawals and deposit checks.”
But most of the people who left nearly 700 comments on the department’s post thought the bungled bank job was more silly than scary.
“Guess he’s trying to be a freeloader.”
“CAT needs to pay more.”
“As long as there are stupid people, police and fire will always have jobs.”
One eagle-eyed Facebook user noted that this isn’t the first time someone has tried this trick, and he was right.
In June, San Antonio police arrested a 48-year-old man for using a tractor to steal an ATM machine from a Pioneer Bank, Spectrum News in San Antonio reported.
In San Diego last year, someone stole a loader from a construction company and tried to haul off an ATM machine from a Union Bank.
In that case, the thief was actually able to drag the ATM across the bank parking lot before they gave up, according to NBC Bay Area.
Police found a gold mask and several packages of oatmeal raisin cookies on the seat, the TV station reported.
Like they said, you can’t make this stuff up.
This story was originally published October 8, 2018 at 1:19 PM.