Another Bulgarian held for ATM fraud

Less than two hours after he was spotted installing a skimming device at an automated teller machine (ATM) in Quezon City, a Bulgarian national was arrested by the police when he came back to retrieve it early Thursday.

Dobromir Rusev Iliev was the fourth Bulgarian to be arrested in Metro Manila and nearby provinces for ATM fraud since 2014.

The 35-year-old Iliev was arrested around 12:40 a.m. at a Bank of Commerce branch at the corner of Tomas Morato Avenue and Scout Lascano Street in Barangay Sacred Heart, according to Supt. Edgardo Tinio, director of the Quezon City Police District.

The QCPD acted on a tip from a Bank of Commerce official who said Iliev was seen installing a skimming device at the ATM around 10:23 p.m. Wednesday.

Seized from Iliev were the device, two cloned ATM cards, an iPhone, a Swiss knife, a bag and a cap. In an interview, Supt. Pedro Sanchez, commander of QCPD Station 10 (Kamuning), said the suspect did not have any cash with him and that he had two companions who were able escape.

The Bulgarian, who claimed to be a resident of Malate, Manila, faces charges for violation of the E-commerce act. He was also booked for disobedience to a person in authority for “resisting arrest” when cornered by a team led by Sanchez.

On Dec.13, Quezon City policemen apprehended Indonesian citizen Milna Kamilia and Romanian national Gabriel Varga as they were about to leave the same Bank of Commerce branch where Iliev was caught. Kamilia’s bag then yielded a skimming device, a memory chip and three cloned cards.

On April 9, another Bulgarian, Konstantin Simeonov Kavrakov, was arrested also in Quezon City while in the act of using cloned cards at an ATM on Scout Reyes Street, Barangay Paligsahan. He was carrying seven cards and about P76,500 in cash, and offered a $12,000 bribe for his release, police said.

Reports said Kavrakov earlier spent jail time abroad for hacking the bank accounts of billionaire Bill Gates in 2011.

In May 2014, the police sued two more Bulgarian citizens—Mladenov Emil Stoyanov and Kanev Lyuven Georgiev—for alleged ATM cloning or skimming. They were arrested at a mall in Pampanga.

In February that year, Italian Roberto de Cecco was caught installing a card-skimming device at a PSBank ATM machine in Barangay Malabanias, Angeles City. With a report from Inquirer Research