A female bank robber could be on the loose in Seattle, accused of successfully hitting at least five banks in about seven months, according to the Seattle Police Department and the FBI. In her most recent heist, the teller said the suspect implied she had a weapon, and she left the bank with over $1,000 in cash, as West Seattle Blog reported.
According to the Seattle police and FBI, the suspect’s first bank robbery happened in June last year, and the most recent happened in January. The suspect is described as Asian between 18 and 25 years old and about 5-foot-5-inches tall and with black hair. She typically wore a mask and hat in each robbery, but in the first four cases, she didn’t say she had a weapon.
These were “note jobs,” but that might be changing, authorities say

Serial robberies aside, the fact she suggested she had a weapon in the fifth robbery is cause for concern, according to Seattle FBI spokesperson Steve Bernd. Bernd told Seattle’s KOMO News, “She’s using notes, what we call a note job, but the last one, she actually displayed a weapon. She didn’t point it at the teller, but she indicated that she had one, so that’s concerning to us because she hadn’t done that before.”
The woman has so far hit three U.S. Bank locations, one Key Bank, and one Wells Fargo in the Seattle area. “We believe the same individual may be responsible for all five due to her M.O. and eyewitness accounts,” Bernd told The Seattle Times.
If the suspect is indeed a woman, female bank robbers are somewhat rare. According to the most recent 2023 data from the FBI, of the roughly 1,650 people involved in bank robberies, burglary, and larceny, only about 106 were female.
According to a 2011 ABC News report, however, at least at that time, more women were robbing banks. Explaining one theory why, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Security Professor Robert McCrie told the outlet, “It’s a safe robbery for women. There’s a sense that no physical harm will occur. You pass a note, maybe you menace that a gun is present, the teller slides back money and off you go.”

Response to the news of the female bank robbery suspect was cynical in places and even sometimes understanding, similar to the popular support of Luigi Mangione, suspected of killing UnitedHealth Group CEO Brian Thompson last December. “In this economy I understand girl,” someone commented on a KIRO 7 X post about the Seattle robberies. “She [didn’t] do anything wrong. When we have the top breaking every law then the bottom can too,” another added. Seattle authorities have asked anyone with information about the suspect in five Seattle area bank robberies to call 911 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 05:05 pm