Police in Bali arrested two Bulgarians over an alleged skimming attempt in Seminyak yesterday evening, in yet another case involving nationals from the Eastern European country on the island.
The two men, identified as Teodor Stepanov Petrov and Kamen Sevdalinov by local media outlets, were pursued by the police after a tip-off from a local bank alerted them that a skimming device has been installed in an ATM machine on Jalan Sunset Road, Seminyak.
“Based on that information, on Feb. 10 the Bali Police went on a stakeout near an ATM machine in the area and on 11pm the perpetrators came on a motorbike,” Andi Fairan, who heads the general crimes unit at the Bali police, told reporters today, as quoted by Kumparan.
“The perpetrators then entered the ATM booth and we can see from CCTV that they were acting suspiciously,” he added.
Police then made the arrests and both Petrov and Sevdalinov confessed to the crimes during questioning, Andi said.
In addition, authorities found a number of evidence at their place of stay in the Kerobokan area, including several skimming devices and cash totaling IDR116 million (US$8,500).
The foreigners are charged with articles under Indonesia’s Criminal Code (KUHP) and Information and Electronic Transactions Law (UU ITE), the former of which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
Bali unfortunately has a bad rap for ATM skimmers, and cases in the past have often involved foreigners from Eastern Europe. Just last month, two Bulgarians were arrested for an alleged skimming attempt after one of them was caught at a local ATM machine in Canggu.
