Five Venezuelan nationals have pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal money from automated teller machines (ATMs) using malware in failed jackpotting attacks in Kansas.
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, each admitted one count of conspiracy to commit bank larceny, according to the US Justice Department.
Velasquez-Artigas has been sentenced to nine months in prison. The remaining four defendants are awaiting sentencing.
The group was arrested in December 2025, shortly after attempts to compromise ATMs in Wamego and Manhattan, Kansas. Surveillance footage captured both incidents.
In Wamego, the conspirators were unable to install the malware, but their activity triggered an alarm. Law enforcement attended the scene and the group did not return, the Justice Department said.
The attempted theft in Manhattan was also unsuccessful. The suspects failed to make the ATM dispense cash before leaving, prosecutors said.
ATM jackpotting involves installing malicious software on an ATM’s internal computer and using it to control the cash dispenser. Criminals can issue commands through equipment such as a USB keyboard or the machine’s PIN pad, allowing them to empty its cash cassette.
A range of malware has been used in such attacks, including Ploutus, ATMitch, GreenDispenser, Alice, RIPPER, Skimer, SUCEFUL and ATMii.
The FBI warned in February that more than $20 million had been stolen from ATMs in the United States during a surge in jackpotting attacks the previous year.
That warning followed arrests linked to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan criminal organisation. The Justice Department has charged 87 alleged members of the group over a scheme involving Ploutus malware and ATM thefts across the US.
The defendants in those cases face maximum prison terms ranging from 20 to 335 years, depending on the charges they face. In January, federal prosecutors in South Carolina said two Venezuelan nationals convicted over ATM jackpotting attacks would be deported after completing their prison sentences.
