Until recently I was a manager at an ATM monitoring call center for a bank that has the third largest ATM network in the country. For a while a group was going around hijacking construction equipment from construction sites near ATMs. The result is usually what you see there. It's no fun getting a call at 2am because the alarm went off and alerted the security center. This could be the same group or another has caught on from all the publicity a knocked over ATM tends to generate.
The payoff on this kind of endeavor can be huge! Upwards $160k if it's fully loaded. Or it can be a bust. One band of thieves stole an ATM from a major sporting arena during the off season. The payoff was exactly $0.00 dollars. That was the one thing they didn't take into consideration.
Most attempted ATM robberies are just that, attempts. Few are successful. Those that are are very well planned or use a system that 'works'. Like heavy equipment. Banks absolutely do not like to see or read news stories about attempted ATM robberies.
One guy (we're pretty sure it was one guy) was actually successful in torching his way into the vault on his second try. His first attempt was interupted becuase we sent a locksmith to investigate the lock he jammed shut.
Another small amateur group stole an ATM from the State Fair. The locating beacon led the cops to the backyard of one of the culprits. Poor bastards never managed to get in the safe to see that the ATM was empty, because the State Fair had actually ended a few days before. That ATM wasn't ours but it made the news.
The ATMs themselves are about $70k not including install. So at $2 a pop for non-customer use fee, an ATM will have to do over 35,000 non-customer fee generating transactions before it 'breaks even'.
Some people like to go the direct route. Summer of '06 an armored car guard who had been on the job for 6 months shot his partner in the head and hijacked his own truck. Sad thing is that both of the guards were people that my group spoke to on a regular basis. It's weird knowing one is dead because of the other and that guy is going to jail.