Bulgarian Robbers Shock French Police

Crime | June 26, 2009, Friday // 18:25|  views

The ATM in Lyon where the two Bulgarian criminals were caught while trying to install a mini module to steal bank cards data. Photo by Le Progres

Two Bulgarians - Svetlio Slavov, 31, and Petar Petrov, 32, have shocked the police in the French city of Lyon.

The two, who are from Bulgaria's Black Sea Capital Varna, have been detained on June 23 while trying to mount a miniature electronic module on an ATM at the upscale "Victor Hugo" street in Lyon.

The news was reported in an article of the local daily "Le Progres."

The module includes a battery, a mini memory stick in the size of a nail, and a mini camera. The Lyon police say this is the first time they see a similar gadget of the size of match box.

"The Bulgarians, who are leaders in the IT sector, first installed a similar system on a gas pump in Dardilly 10 years ago and never stopped introducing innovations," the article points out.

"Today those individuals, who are part of a network, arrive with a kit they install for several days on a cash machine, while constantly keeping an eye on it, so that the competition does not trick them. The magnet strip data and the PIN codes are recorded simultaneously and the data is immediately sent via email or USB. A bank card can be copied that same night and used in other countries" - this is how "Le Progres" explains the process.

The group, allegedly, used the technology in Paris in the beginning of 2009 with the fake cards being activated in Spain and Macedonia.

A high ranking police officer is quoted as saying that busting such criminals at the crime scene was a very rare occurrence.

The perpetrators were caught red handed due to a delivery man alerting the police, who immediately sealed the area.

The two are charged with organized robbery.

One of them told the police he was an accountant in Bulgaria while the other said he was a taxi driver with "huge cash flow problems."

 

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Tags: Le Progres, Lyon, bank machine

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