German police, banking and insurance officials have agreed to work together to improve security and thwart the increasingly brazen crimes and rising numbers of cash-machine break-ins and thefts.

Germany saw 496 cash-machine thefts in 2022, a sharp rise from the 392 attacks in 2021 and the most since the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) began tracking the crime in 2005.

Damages and losses from cash-machine thefts is estimated to be somewhere in the range of 50 million Euros ($55 million).

However, because criminals are increasingly using highly dangerous explosives to blast open cash machines, there is growing concern that people will be injured.

“Banks are still in favour of demand-based and reliable cash supplies,” said the German Banking Industry Committee (DK), an umbrella organisation that includes the five significant German banking associations.

German police believe criminals from the Netherlands have become increasingly active in Germany, drawn to the country after Dutch police and banks rolled out new measures to crack down on thefts and prevent criminals from blasting open cash machines.

Banks closer to the Dutch border have seen more cash-machine robberies than other parts of Germany, according to police.

German banks agreed to increased security measures in November after a meeting with the Federal Interior Ministry.

Those measures included burglar alarms and video surveillance systems in self-service foyers, lower cash holdings and colouring systems that soaked cash with dyes if an alarm was triggered.

Closing cash-machine locations at night wais also an option.