Three Bulgarian men were charged on February 24 with skimming ATM machines and netting more than $137,000, in an operation  involving several machines over a 44-day period in Massachusetts, the American Register reported.

The group installed an electronic device on ATMs belonging to Bank of America and Citizens Bank, recording information stored on the magnetic strips of users' cards. The Bulgarians also installed surveillance cameras to record the PIN of each client.

The trio have been identified as Ivaylo Hristov 28, and Anton Venkov, 40, who live in Toronto, Canada. The third man, according to the Register, is Vladislav Vladev 36, a native of Sofia.

If convicted, Hristov and Vladev face a maximum of 57 years in prison and $1.25m in fines, the Register said.

Meanwhile, Venkov faces a maximum of 42 years and fines of $1.25m.

This is the latest incident in a series of cases in which Bulgarians have been accused of skimming crimes.

On December 11 2009, two Bulgarian skimmers, Krasimir Damyanov (25) and Deyan Dimitrov Iliev (22), were sentenced to two years and four months' imprisonment after admitting a charge of providing false information and 10 computer crime charges, the Christchurch Court News said on December 11 2009.

As a consequence of their activities, two banks had to re-issue 4736 cards to their customers at a cost of 130 000 New Zealand dollars.  Repairs to their machines cost 18 000 dollars.

In July 2009, police in the US apprehended a 34-year-old who was thought to be a member of a Bulgarian-run skimming gang. The scam was discovered by staff of Wachovia Bank and Bank of America.

Earlier that month, a Bulgarian-based criminal group was said to have been behind a similar scam involving ATM machines in Australia's Queensland Gold Coast. Reportedly, at least 80 000 Australian dollars were siphoned from Gold Coaster's bank accounts in an international card-skimming operation that Australian authorities believe originated in Bulgaria.

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 over a two-year period. The gang allegedly installed pinhole cameras on the ceiling of the ATM to record the clients' PIN and used stolen data to withdraw more than $160 000 from bank customer accounts in a fortnight.