Police and the banking industry hope that an offer of a reward might give the public extra incentive to come forward with valuable information.

Banks are currently reviewing security measures at ATMs following these recent incidents.

David Bell, Chief Executive of the ABA, said: “New measures have been deployed at ATMs to prevent ram raids. Now that ram raids are not proving to be as lucrative for the criminals, they are employing a new modus operandi to steal and destroy property – igniting various forms of accelerant to gain access into the ATM.”

“The banking sector is very concerned that criminals will injure others, possibly even innocent bystanders, when they are triggering an explosion at an ATM, so we are hoping for early arrests.”

The ABA reward scheme involves a reward payment from a bank or banks, to individuals who provide information to police about an offender’s identity and give evidence in court leading to a conviction.

The police make recommendations for payment under the ABA Reward Scheme and the rewards are paid by the bank, or banks, that have been robbed.

The amount of the reward is based on the value of the information provided to police, up to a maximum of $50 000 for each payment.

It is important to note that not all ATMs are owned by banks. There are around 26 000 ATMs in Australia and banks own around half of those – (11, 200 or 43%).

Other providers include credit unions, building societies and independent deployers who supply cash machines to service stations, pubs, clubs, casinos and other locations.

The reward applies only to information related to bank robberies and robberies on ATMs owned by banks.

Anyone with information which may lead to the arrest of suspects is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.