Police in New Zealand have apprehended two Bulgarian nationals in Nelson overnight. The Bulgarians have been charged with carrying out data-skimming attacks on ATM machines in Nelson and Canterbury, the NZPA has reported on September 4. Reportedly, the police investigation is still ongoing, with authorities trying to determine whether the pair were successful in their scheme, and if so, to assess the damages.

The culprits, aged 22 and 29, are set to appear in the Nelson District Court later in the afternoon (Bulgarian time) on September 4. It was revealed that the Bulgarians had just arrived in the country several weeks earlier via Singapore, and immediately got down to business.

Detective senior sergeant Corrie Parnell of the Christchurch Fraud Squad said the men were aiming to access the card reading area of ATM machines at ANZ, BNZ, ASB, National Bank and Westpac.

"We are pretty confident we've nipped it in the bud before it got out of the block."

In similar attacks carried out by Bulgarian skimmers elsewhere around the world, notably, Greece, Australia and the United States, the tactics were more or less identical. The pair attempted to access personal banking details electronically from the machines to be subsequently sent overseas for use with counterfeit credit cards.

Alerted the New Zealand police then Police acted swiftly with the targeted banks and cancelled the cards. All card holders would be contacted by their bank and new cards issued.

It would take some time for the police electronic crime lab to examine the various exhibits recovered from the alleged offenders’ motel and rental car and assess whether any loss of personal data had occurred, and if so, the extent of the loss.

In July 2009, a Bulgarian-based criminal group was behind a similar scam involving ATM machines in Australia's Queensland Gold Coast. At least 80 000 Australian dollars were siphoned from Gold Coaster's bank accounts as a consequence.

More than 70 people were thought to have been defrauded in over a month at the ANZ automatic teller machine on the Gold Coast Highway at Nobby Beach. This had prompted banks and credit unions to cancel all credit and debit cards of customers who have used the ATM.

In April 2008, US police in Miami Beach busted a ring of Bulgarian nationals who were accused of planting skimmers on ATMs in the area for a period of over two years. The gang allegedly installed pinhole cameras in the ceiling of the ATM to record the PIN numbers and used the stolen data to withdraw more than $160 000 from bank customer accounts in the space of a fortnight