Bulgarian and Italian police have busted an international crime ring counterfeiting credit cards and "skimming" card numbers from ATM machines around Europe, authorities in Sofia said Tuesday. A total of 41 Bulgarians, six Italians and one Romanian have been arrested in Bulgaria and Italy for alleged participation in the gang that numbered as many as 80 people, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said.

Most of the bank machines targeted by the gang were in Italy, the interior ministry's press office said, adding that the group was also active in Spain, Germany, Slovenia, Poland and Denmark. "The group was preparing skimming devices and counterfeit credit cards for illegally withdrawing money from ATM machines," Tsvetanov said. Skimming involves stealing people's card numbers and secret PIN code numbers by implanting card-reading devices on ATMs. The ministry said it could not immediately tell how much money had been stolen by the group.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012