Chennai: Three Bulgarians have been arrested in the city for skimming bank cards. The trio allegedly stole card data at ATMs and withdrew money from victims' bank accounts. The three Bulgarians identified as Nicola, Boris and Lium Bobby were arrested by the City Crime Branch (CCB) from OMR in the wee hours of Saturday.
They have been running a racket by stealing money using skimmers in ATM machines. Based on a specific tip-off, the city Crime Branch (CCB) tracked that the trio staying at a hotel in Kannagi Nagar on OMR. With the help of Kannagi Nagar police, a team of CCB sleuths arrested the trio.
While searching the room, police found more than 50 fake ATM cards, skimmers, encoders and Rs 7 lakh, 1,000 dollars and laptops.
Speaking about the modus operandi, the police said, “The men were a part of the Bulgarian gang that fixed skimmer machines in the city. They put a fake PIN keypad cover in the ATM, attached with a hidden camera. Once they make a fake card using data they steal, they can withdraw money using the PIN number.” The City Crime Branch police are conducting inquiries with the men.
Just two days ago, the city police recovered a skimmer device and a micro hidden camera from an ATM kiosk in Aynavaram.
