Pepper Spray to Prevent ATM Tampering in South Africa

To combat the increasing problem of ATM machine tampering, South African banks have installed anti-theft technology that dispenses pepper spray when cameras detect people tampering with card slots. Police are notified as the pepper spray temporarily disables the would-be thieves, giving the police additional time to arrive and arrest the person or persons tampering with the ATM machine.

Theft targeting ATM machines is on the rise in South Africa, with the number of ATM machines blown up with explosives increasing from 54 in 2006 to almost 500 in 2008. Currently the pepper spray measures are reserved for sites considered to be a high risk area.

Absa Bank installed pepper spray anti-theft machines on 11 ATM machines in the popular tourist area of Western Cape on the Cape Peninsula.

This unusual measure is one of many ways that South Africans are combatting the extreme level of crime in their country (another being Charles Fourie’s invention of a flamethrower used to defend against car jackers).

So far no thwarted tampering attempts have been reported but three technicians working on a machine in Fish Hoek were accidentally sprayed during a routine maintenance stop in July 2009. They required medical treatment but were not seriously hurt. The cloud of pepper spray reportedly drifted into the shopping area where the ATM machine was located but did not disable any others.

Considering the high amount of crime in South Africa, extreme measures seem warranted. No security measure is without flaws but a trial run of pepper spray could prove useful in the war against crime. Other South African banks are now testing similar anti-theft devices.