This is a fascinating piece on robbing banks in the Washington Post. The bottom-line: its very easy to get away with once or twice, and often just requires a note, but any more than that and you’re going to get caught. Here is how the guy the piece is built around got his start:
“His demand note went through drafts before he got it right.
One of the first banks Adams tried to rob was a SunTrust in Fort Washington, on Jan. 28, 2003. He handed the teller a note that said simply: ‘Give me all the money out the register.’
The teller seemed unimpressed. She appeared to doubt he was serious. She stalled.
’So I left,’ Adams says.
’I said, ‘Damn, why she do that? This ain’t how it supposed to go,’ you know what I’m saying? So this time I’m going to change it and give it like a ghetto twist. See how this turns out.’
The next day he went into a Chevy Chase Bank in Bowie. His note said, ‘Give me all the bills out your register or some bodies are going to start dropping!!!’
The teller handed over $1,750.”