SOFIA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian authorities have neutralized a four-member organized criminal group responsible for making and using of ATM machine skimming equipment, officials said here on Friday.
During the operation on Thursday, the authorities searched seven houses and three cars, found two workshops for making skimming equipment, and seized "a large amount" of components for ATMs, mini cameras and other items used to make skimming devices, the Specialized Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Siyka Mileva said at a press conference.
The gang had been active since the beginning of 2018 in making skimming devices, she said.
Three of the gang members have already been caught and sentenced for skimming of bank cards and illegal cash withdrawals, one of them in 2015 in Vietnam, another in 2017 in Chile and the third in 2012 in Estonia, Mileva said.
Stoyan Temelakiev, deputy director of General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, added that the gang has also sold skimming equipment to other individuals and groups.
