QUEZON CITY, PHILIPPINES – The Philippine National Police (PNP) announced on Friday the arrest of a Bulgarian national who allegedly hacked several ATMs and stole thousand of dollars from victims, including the world’s richest man, Bill Gates.
Konstantin Kavrakov, 31, a Bulgarian nationa, was arrested at an ATM terminal in Quezon City Thursday night while in the act of withdrawing money using an ATM card.
Kavrakov is wanted in Paraguay and has been the target of the Internationa Police for his alleged involvement in the hacking of the ATM account of Bill Gates in 2011.
The police said Kavrakov was among the four Bulgarian men led by Aleksey Petrov Kolarov, the king of hackers, who stole thousands of dollars from the accounts of gates in Paraguay four years ago.
Kolarov was arrested in Paraguay’s capital while attempting to shop with cloned cards. Investigators say Kolarov is the head of a mega-network for cloning bank cards, which has been operating in the United States and Europe ever since 2004.
Kavrakov was arrested by elements of the Criminal Investigation an Detection Group’s (CIDG) Anti-Fraud and Commercial Crimes Unit and Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.
CIDG Chief Police Director Benjamin Magalong said Kavrakov has been under surveillance operations by authorities. The suspect has been staying in the Philippines for almost a year now.
During the arrest, the police seized nine ATM receipts from Kavrakov. The receipts were all dated April 9, 2015 and had total value of P76,570 (USD1,725).
Kavrakov was charged for violating the Access Device Regulations Act for using and producing counterfeit access devices.
Kavrakov, who was arrested in an entrapment operation in Quezon City on Thursday, was jailed in Paraguay in 2011, but was found to have moved to the Philippines late in 2012 or early 2013. – BusinessNewsAsia.com