# Pulp Fiction's robbing a bank with a phone **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2013, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176 "2013-10-25T01:56:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/21 "2017-01-23T10:31:11Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I thought it was a Japanese credit card. I know of JBC cards used for picking up women, but never for picking up ATMs. > [@Kobal2](#): > > So it’s not for idjits and hopeful amateurs. Crosses robbing armored cars off the list of potential money making schemes. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/22 "2017-01-23T11:57:31Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > I know of JBC cards used for picking up women, but never for picking up ATMs. Yeah, an ATM you gotta romance. ---
**Author:** ![Annoying\_Buzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Annoying\_Buzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annoying_Buzz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/23 "2017-01-25T05:37:31Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > There was an amusing case here in France a few years ago where the \*driver \*of one such truck just sped off while the two other guards were out fetching coffee. I mean, why not ? He later gave himself up along with the truck, but the 11.5M euros inside were gone and he didn’t say where. 9M have been recovered, but there’s still 2.5M out there waiting for him. > I just checked and he’s been out of prison for 3 years, having done 4 inside. One of the most famous robberies in Japan had a police officer on motorcycle stop a bank truck to warn them that the bank manager’s house had been bombed, and one of the trucks had been rigged to blow as well (this was in 1968, so violent militant groups were very plausible). When the cop began looking under the truck, smoke started pouring out and he yelled for everyone to take cover. When the drivers finally looked up from their hiding places, the cop, the truck, and 300 million yen were gone without a shot fired or weapon drawn. The case has still never been solved. > **[300 million yen robbery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300_million_yen_robbery)** > > The 300 million yen robbery (三億円事件, San Oku En Jiken), also known as the 300 million yen affair or incident, was a robbery that occurred on December 10, 1968 in Tokyo, Japan. A man posing as a police officer on a motorcycle stopped bank employees transferring money and stole 294 million yen. It is the single largest heist in Japanese history. Half a century later, the case remains unsolved. > > On the morning of December 10, 1968, four Kokubunji branch employees of the Nihon Shintaku Ginko (Nippon ... ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/24 "2017-01-25T13:40:45Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > What was your dad’s role in this? His name appears in the name of the case but is not mentioned anywhere in the body of the case. He was, apparently, tried and convicted of the robbery. Check out footnote 4: > [@](#): > > The grand jury on January 8, 1973, indicted Mueller and appellant [Beck] on charges of violating the Hobbs Act and the bank theft statute. Mueller, however, was never tried, having been slain in Clayton, Missouri, on May 28, 1973. Trial commenced on July 9, 1973. [This legal review article](http://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1091&context=nlj) (PDF) also describes the case in a bit more detail; see page 416. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/25 "2017-01-25T15:23:01Z")
Around me, all you need is a note demanding money, weapons don’t have to be displayed or inferred at all. The thing to remember is, WHEN you get caught, it is still a federal crime, gun or no gun. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176/26 "2017-01-25T16:14:04Z")
> [@Emergency911](#): > > Around me, all you need is a note demanding money, weapons don’t have to be displayed or inferred at all. > The thing to remember is, WHEN you get caught, it is still a federal crime, gun or no gun. Which brings back the question of the difference between telling the teller you have a gun and telling the teller that a (actually nonexistent) hostage will be killed if they don’t fork over the money. Is the latter a lower level of crime? If not, then why bother with the _PF_ phone ploy and do it old style? (And what if you threaten them with a gub?) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pulp-fictions-robbing-a-bank-with-a-phone/672176.md?page=1)