FBI: ‘Jackpotting’ suspects stole over $500K from ATMs along I-95 in CT
The FBI said four Venezuelan nationals stole $529,220 from eight ATMs last August by using technology to corrupt the machines and get them to spew out wads of cash.
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The FBI in Connecticut has arrested four men they said stole more than half a million dollars from ATMs in Connecticut, many at rest stops along I-95, last August. It's a scheme called jackpotting which uses hardware and malware to corrupt the machines and force them to churn out stacks of cash.
Surveillance photos, an Apple account and cellphone tracking data helped federal investigators put together a case against Euclides Moreno Itanare, Willian Ricardo Flores, Alberto Jose Freites Arvilla and Luis Jose Freites Arvilla, according to the criminal complaint. Itanare, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina; Flores, 49, of the Bronx, New York; Alberto Arvilla, 41, of Queens, New York; and Luis Arvilla, 38, of Lynn, Massachusetts, were arrested on June 25 and charged with interstate transportation of stolen property and conspiracy. Prosecutors said they are all citizens of Venezuela.
According to the criminal complaint, the men robbed eight ATMS from Aug. 8, 2025 to Aug. 18, 2025, hitting up a machine in Milford and machines at the I-95 service plazas in Darien, Fairfield, Branford and Madison. They're accused of getting away with $529,220.
In each case, the pattern was the same. Investigators said one suspect would act as a lookout while another opened the hood of the ATM and installed the necessary technology. The suspects would spend hours repeatedly going to each ATM to make withdrawals, even changing clothes to avoid suspicion when using the same machine multiple times, according to the complaint.
The biggest single haul was from the northbound rest stop in Fairfield, $136,000. An attempt in Ansonia was unsuccessful due to a software patch that protected the ATM from that type of theft, investigators said.
The criminal complaint said the four men are tied to the following thefts:
Aug 8, 2025: Cumberland Farms in Milford, $23,300 stolen
Aug 8, 2025: Attempted heist at Cumberland Farms in Ansonia
Aug 14, 2025: I-95 north in Fairfield, $136,000 stolen
Aug 15, 2025: I-95 north in Branford, $66,400 stolen
Aug 16, 2025: I-95 north in Madison, $42,020 stolen
Aug 16, 2025: I-95 south in Madison, $84,000 stolen
Aug 17, 2025: I-95 north in Darien, $61,600 stolen
Aug 18, 2025: I-95 north in Darien, $58,400 stolen
Aug 18, 2025: I-95 south in Darien, $57,000 stolen
If convicted, each suspect faces up to 10 years on the interstate transportation of stolen property charge and five years on the conspiracy charge.
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