A failed ATM jackpotting run in Kansas has ended in guilty pleas from five Venezuelan nationals charged with conspiracy to commit bank larceny.
The five who pleaded guilty, Luis Alberto Velasquez-Artigas (27), Royder Adrian Figuera-Perez (29), Javier Mejia Jr (27), Gabriel Alexjandro Corales-Garcia (33) and Italo Lizandro Corrales-Carrillo (26), drove in from Indiana in December 2025 for the attempt. The plan: plant malware on machines in Wamego and Manhattan, Kansas, then trigger it remotely to make the ATMs spit out cash. Both tries failed, surveillance cameras caught the group, and arrests followed within days.
One member of the group, Velasquez-Artigas, has already received a nine-month prison sentence; the other four await theirs. The US Department of Justice announced the guilty pleas.
The FBI calls jackpotting a rising national trend, counting more than 1,900 incidents since 2020 and over 700 in 2025 alone, with losses topping $20M. Days earlier, a separate case saw Venezuelan national Juan Manuel Gouveia-Aguilera handed a 96-month term for his part in another jackpotting plot.
The Kansas case shows even failed heists leave a trail. Physical installation attempts are increasingly caught by surveillance and banking security layers before any cash is dispensed.
