Police in Texas have arrested two men in the Houston suburb of Baytown in what is the first instance of the new crime known as 'Jackpotting' to be seen in Texas, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
'Jackpotting' is when technology which is available on the 'dark web' is used to hack into an ATM machine, prompting the machine to spit out hundreds of $20 bills, just like a Vegas slot machine paying a jackpot
.Harris County prosecutor Keith Houston tells News Radio 1200 WOAI the crime has become common in Asia.
"This has been happening overseas a little bit," he said. "A bank in Taiwan was forced to shut down a thousand of their ATMs. The bad thing for customers is that they are forced to go back into the bank and wait in teller lines again."
Houston says the two suspects were arrested on the scene of an ATM.
"Two of these individuals were in a van that approached the ATM," he said. "They attempted to hook up computer equipment to the ATM so they could control it. The intention was for a third person to come to the ATM and empty the machine of its contents."
He says the two men in the van were arrested and will face charges of breach of computer security and attempted theft of an ATM.
The third man apparently spotted the police activity and got away.
No money was actually stolen from the ATM.