Pampanga cops reject bribery attempt of suspect in ATM card fraud

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO—An arrested Bulgarian national attempted to bribe his way out of a case following his arrest while in the act of skimming cash from an automated teller machine (ATM) in Barangay (village) San Agustin here on Jan. 3, an official said on Friday .

Suspect Ivaylo Sashov Galovov reportedly tried to bribe two policemen in exchange of dropping the case and for his eventual release.

Galovov allegedly offered P500,000 in cash to the policemen, according to Senior Supt. Roland Agohob, police chief in this Pampanga capital.

Agohob did not identify the policemen who rejected the bribe.

Galovov, 34, refused to answer questions of investigators who were trying to determine if he was connected with the three other foreigners who were arrested on July 24, 2017 for withdrawing cash using cloned ATM cards at the same bank.

Like Galovov, the three suspects also attempted to bribe their arresting officers, Agohob said. The $50,000 bribe money was allegedly handed out by Pedro Uveges, a Romanian, but policemen likewise rejected it, Agohob said.

Uveges was charged along with Nicaraguan Radu Minodor Sandor and Italian Marcu Bogdan.

The same bank was targeted because it allowed a maximum of P20,000 for every withdrawal, according to Agohob.

The police recovered six cloned ATM cards, a wallet containing P2,100, a motorcycle and three identification cards from Galovov.

The police charged Galovov for violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10175) and the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 (Republic Act No. 8484).

The police have also increased their visibility near local banks to preempt a third attempt at card fraud. /jpv