Four Venezuelan Nationals Charged in $529K Connecticut ATM Jackpot Spree

Federal prosecutors allege that four suspects netted more than half a million dollars in a sophisticated jackpotting scheme targeting ATMs at Connecticut interstate rest areas.

According to a Monday press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the suspects hit at least nine ATMs over a ten‑day spree in August and now face multiple federal charges.

Prosecutors claim the crew employed custom hardware and malware to compromise the machines, causing them to spew out cash. In a single incident at a northbound I‑95 rest area in Fairfield, they allegedly walked away with $136,000.

Court filings show the total take amounted to $529,220 from eight ATMs between August 8 and August 18 2025. A security patch meant to block such attacks stopped the gang at a machine in Ansonia on the opening day of their spree.

Two suspects reside in New York, one hails from North Carolina, and the fourth is based in Massachusetts.

All four are Venezuelan nationals, identified by the prosecutor’s office as Euclides Moreno Itanare (28), Willian Ricardo Flores (49), Alberto Jose Freites Arvilla (41), and Luis Jose Freites Arvilla (38).

The press release noted that each theft followed a similar pattern.

Surveillance footage indicates that while Luis Freites Arvilla served as a lookout, Alberto Freites Arvilla opened the ATM’s hood, tampered with its interior components, and then departed.

Over several hours, Luis Freites Arvilla, Itanare, and Flores rotated shifts withdrawing cash from the compromised machine.

The release also said the suspects tried to conceal their identities by changing clothes between visits to the same ATM.

The quartet was arrested on Thursday following a joint investigation involving the FBI, Connecticut State Police, and the Raleigh, North Carolina and New York police departments.

The suspects remain in custody pending trial on charges of interstate transportation of stolen property, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years, and conspiracy, punishable by up to five years if convicted.

Photos released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, purportedly taken by the suspects, depict them tampering with ATMs and displaying bundles of cash they had withdrawn.

In 2018, The Guardian reported that two major ATM manufacturers and the U.S. Secret Service had warned that cybercriminals were using malicious software to jackpot ATMs and steal cash.

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