'Masked bandits': Raccoons break into bank in California

In scenes we're only used to seeing in the movies, a couple of "masked" robbers broke into a bank in California by crawling along air ducts before falling from the ceiling onto the ground.

The masked robbers were a couple of raccoons that managed to sneak their way into the building.

The two animals were caught on camera by a bank customer using an ATM outside the building in Redwood City, California.

Photographs released by the SPCA show the two raccoons inside the building, wandering the halls and even sitting at a desk.

A man spotted the racoons inside while he was using the ATM outside the building. Photo / PHS & SPCA

"It's not every day an animal organisation gets called to deal with a bank break-in, but since the bank robbers were masked bandits of the wildlife kind, we were indeed the appropriate responders," Buffy Martin Tarbox, Peninsula Humane Society and SPCA communications manager, told ABC.

The two "masked bandits" did not want to leave the building and took the rescuers on a foot chase that lasted 10 minutes before they were "finally able to safely shoo them outside".

The two racoons managed to sneak their way into the bank in California. Photo / PHS & SPCA

It is believed the two racoons climbed a tree outside in order to enter the air ducts and then fell through the ceiling tiles.

"There were several broken ceiling tiles, and the masked bandits knocked papers around and even a computer over," Tarbox added.

"Thankfully the raccoons were not injured during their morning escapade, and to our knowledge they didn't abscond with any money."