Two Bulgarian nationals were arrested this weekend by Bali Police for allegedly using skimmers at an ATM in the northern Bali town of Lovina.
Boris Georgiev and Marian Bogidarof Serafinoff were arrested at a BNI bank ATM on Jl. Raya Lovina, according to police.
“The arrests were made on Saturday, early morning at a BNI ATM on Jl. Raya Lovina, Buleleng, Bali,” Bali Police spokesman Hengky Widjaja told reporters on Monday.
Police say they caught the pair in action, taking a white skimming tool from the ATM that they had allegedly installed to record data from bank customers.
“Both were caught red-handed at the time, taking the skimming tool that was installed in the ATM,” Widjaja said.
From Georgiev, police say they directly confiscated the skimming device and a blue bag containing an Oppo mobile phone, a few SIM cards, and a wallet, while from Serafinoff, police say they took a wallet, bank cards from CIMB Niaga and BII, two Samsung mobile phones, an iPhone 6S, a Nokia, an 8GB USB stick, and a red pocketknife.
Police say they are still deepening their investigation into the case.
Bali has become notorious for ATM-related crimes in the past several years, even getting ranked as one of the worst places in the world for ATM skimming.
Bali’s been hit by Bulgarian ATM scammers in the past, with one Bulgarian man getting sentenced to 12 years prison for stealing banking data from ATM users with a skimmer.
The public is advised to used ATMs attached to branch banks where security is enhanced, rather than freestanding machines or machines at other shops.
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