#financial

Federal Courts Sentence ATM Jackpotting Crews Deploying Ploutus Malware Across the US

Five Venezuelan nationals have pleaded guilty in Kansas federal court to conspiracy to commit bank larceny after attempting to compromise ATMs using malware. The group drove from Indiana to Kansas in December 2025 to execute jackpotting attacks against machines in Wamego and Manhattan, but their attempts failed and triggered local police alarms. Surveillance cameras captured the perpetrators, leading to their arrests shortly thereafter, with one defendant receiving a nine-month prison sentence while four others await sentencing. Federal prosecutors noted that the crew intentionally targeted specific ATM models perceived to have vulnerable designs susceptible to physical and software-based exploitation. According to federal authorities, jackpotting operations have escalated dramatically, accounting for over $58 million in losses across more than 1,900 incidents tracked since 2020. The FBI noted that 2025 alone saw over 700 jackpotting incidents that resulted in more than $20 million in stolen funds. These guilty pleas follow the recent sentencing of another operative in Omaha, Nebraska, who received eight years in prison for his role in a multi-state ring utilizing the `Ploutus` malware family. In these attacks, criminals typically compromise physical enclosures to connect a rogue laptop directly to the internal hard drive or swap the drive entirely with an infected, pre-configured image. Over 119 individuals have faced charges connected to these operations, which have hit financial hardware in 47 states and multiple foreign jurisdictions. Prosecutors have linked the revenue generated from these attacks directly to transnational criminal groups, specifically Tren de Aragua.