A Polish national who goes by the initials GAW was deported by the Singaraja Immigration Bureau after he had served three years in prison.
The 38-year-old was found guilty of ATM skimming and theft in Karangasem several years ago.
“[Last] Sunday, the foreign citizen was released [from prison] and was transferred from the Singaraja Correctional Institution to the Singaraja Immigration Office for further processing,” Singaraja Immigration Head Nanang Mustofa said yesterday.
GAW departed from the Ngurah Rai International Airport yesterday with Malaysia Airlines bound for Berlin, from where he will be sent to Poland via land route.
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.
The scheme involves illegally installing devices on ATMs capable of obtaining cardholders’ private data, including their PIN numbers. Scammers use the stolen data to create fake debit or credit cards, which they use to steal money from victims’ accounts.
Also this year, a Ukrainian woman, BK, was charged with financial fraud for allegedly skimming IDR325.6 million (US$22,671) from local ATMs.
Last December, two Turkish nationals were sentenced to 2.5 years in prison each after they attempted to skim ATMs in Bali.
