UK ATM theft video spreads, claiming it happened in Bangladesh
A video has spread on Facebook with the claim that thieves dragged away an ATM booth in Bangladesh using a crane. However, Dismislab’s fact-check found that the video is from Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, and the theft occurred on October 26, 2025.
The video was posted from several (1, 2) personal Facebook profiles, claiming it to be from Bangladesh. Although the captions did not specify the location, the texts on the video claimed that it happened in Bangladesh. The text on one of the videos claimed, “This is the current situation of Bangladesh.”
Another video had text written inside it saying, “This is Bangladesh, not Afghanistan, brother.” (Spelling unchanged.) The logo of Maasranga Television can be seen in that video. From another account, the same video was posted with the caption, “ATM booth theft in broad daylight using an excavator #where is freedom in the country.” This video shows the logo of Prothom Alo.
The video depicts a night scene where a yellow crane breaks a booth and pulls out an ATM. Later, the machine is loaded onto a white vehicle and taken away.
Several personal Facebook profiles (1, 2, 3, 4) posted the same video claiming that the incident took place in Bangladesh.
During verification of the source of the video, Dismislab found a video reel published on Prothom Alo’s official Facebook page. The caption of the reel read, “In the UK, an entire ATM was lifted away in broad daylight using a crane.” The same footage was seen in a video reel posted on the official Facebook page of Maasranga Television. The caption read, “Thieves dragged away the entire ATM booth with a crane.” At 35 seconds into the video, it was mentioned that the incident happened in England.
The BBC also published a report on this incident. The report stated, “Significant damage has been caused to a Sainsbury’s shop front as a telehandler was used to steal a cash machine. Thames Valley Police said it was investigating a burglary after the construction/agricultural vehicle was used to smash into the supermarket chain’s Local store in Brooklands Square, Milton Keynes.”
The UK-based newspaper The Telegraph also published a report on the same incident. Their report stated, “A gang of masked men used a stolen JCB telehandler to rip a cash machine from a Sainsbury’s store in Buckinghamshire. The group targeted the shop in Brooklands Square, Milton Keynes, at around 12:50 a.m. on Sunday, October 26. They used the JCB to lift the ATM from the shopfront, smashing windows, and lifted it into a white pick-up truck. The thieves then appeared to flee, abandoning the JCB in front of the store.”
Several Bangladeshi news outlets (1, 2, 3) also published reports on this incident. The headline of Kaler Kantho’s report was, “Not the money, the entire ATM taken away in broad daylight.” The report stated, “Using a crane, part of a store was demolished, and an ATM was openly taken away. A video of this incident has recently spread on social media. TRT Media reported that the incident took place in the UK. The video shows a group of people using a crane to break the front of a store, remove the ATM, and transport it elsewhere using another vehicle.”
Therefore, the video actually shows an ATM theft in the United Kingdom, and it has no connection to Bangladesh.
Disclaimer: The original version of this fact-check report was published in Bengali on Dismislab’s Bengali website on October 30, 2025. The English translation was completed later; however, to maintain time accuracy and avoid any potential misinterpretation, the English version has been published with the original publication date.
