"ATMs hold cash, and that makes them attractive for criminals." The opening statement of this episode sums up what the whole mini-series is about. While criminals around the world try to get to the money in cash-machines with hammers, explosives, excavators or other heavy gear, the Carbanak gang found a more elegant and stealth way. They would hack into bank networks and monitor the activities there until they understood how to trigger the machines remotely to spill out all the money.

Episode 1 explains how security researchers were alerted to it, how they brought international police forces into the investigation and why the method of attacking ATMs is called Jackpotting after a researcher named Barnaby Jack.