Criminals in Denmark are heading online after the country announced that it didn’t record a single bank robbery in 2022.
In Denmark, cash transactions have essentially become obsolete as more and more Danes have been opting for using cards or smartphones to pay for goods and services. Due to this major transition, the Danish bank employees’ union announced that 2022 had been robbery-free.
“It is just amazing. Because (robberies) put an absolutely extreme strain on the affected employees every time (they) happened,” spokesman Steen Lund Olsen said.
In 2000, 221 bank robberies were recorded whereas, in 2021, there was just one. Last year saw that number drop to an incredible zero bank robberies, which relates to the fact that cash withdrawals in the country have been dropping by about three-quarters every year for the past six years.
Finance Denmark, the banking sector’s association, reported that only 20 bank branches across the country have cash holdings. Even the number of bank branches has fallen from where it was two decades ago, with 219 total in 1991 to 56 in 2021.
Initially, robbers switched their attention from bank branches to ATMs but those robberies have also dropped to zero amid better surveillance and technical protection.
Finance Denmark said criminals in recent years have now switched their sights to defrauding people online.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/crime-theft-business-denmark-ee5beb683219cca2353c114208707af8