Breaking the Bank: A Series of ATM Thefts Plague Chicago Currency Exchanges

In the early hours of Friday morning, two thieves broke into a currency exchange in the West Town neighborhood and made off with an ATM machine. The incident took place at around 2:30 a.m. in the 1500 block of West Division Street. Chicago police were alerted to the burglary call and discovered broken glass from the front door of the business upon arrival.

According to a witness, the unknown offenders smashed their way inside, removed the ATM machine from its location, and carried it to a waiting white van before fleeing the scene. This crime is just one of many instances of ATM thefts in the area that have been on the rise in recent months. In January, a currency exchange was targeted for its ATM when thieves drove a Jeep Cherokee through the front window near Roosevelt and Jefferson Street. Another currency exchange on the city’s near West Side was also recently broken into by burglars who removed the front glass door of the business to take the machine containing an unspecified amount of money.

Despite this growing trend, no one is currently in custody for this particular West Town ATM burglary and Area 3 detectives are still investigating further details about this case.