Skimmers from Bulgaria apprehended

In Ticino and other cantons, several ATMs were recently tampered with and the culprits stole their victims' card information. These data fell into the hands of a group led by a 38-year-old Bulgarian man. Ultimately, the cards were mainly used in Indonesia.

11.12.2019 – The police have now managed to apprehend this Bulgarian man, thanks to an international arrest warrant. The group, which cloned ATMs and credit cards, got away with several tens of thousands of Swiss francs, but the damage to banking equipment amounts to more than one hundred thousand francs.

Tips for the general public:

• Protect your PIN. Learn it by heart, never write it down on the card itself and don't keep it together with your card either.
• Never enter your PIN in door entry systems. If this is requested it is fraudulent. No financial institution demands this.
• If your card is unexpectedly retained by the cash machine, have the card blocked immediately and contact your bank.
• Take a good look at the cash dispenser. If you think something does not seem quite right (a wobbly base for example), do not use the machine, and report your suspicions to the operator of the ATM or the police (outside opening hours).
• In Switzerland and Europe, money can only be withdrawn if the card has a forgery-proof chip. This is why skimmers use a copy of the card to withdraw cash outside Europe. Configuring geographic settings and limits for your account, debit card or credit card allows you to restrict the use of your card to specific regions of the world as standard. This renders any copies of your card worthless, preventing money from being withdrawn from your account abroad.