"Illicit trade in forged US and Bulgarian ID documents has been intercepted," Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev wrote on Twitter.

The operation was carried out by the Prosecutor's Office and the GDBOP (organized crime task force) and targeted crimes in cyberspace.

The Prosecutor General also noted that "fighting cybercrime is a challenge that we successfully tackle."

"Charges were brought against one person and we have evidence that he was trading in forged ID papers. We have information that more than 230 fake IDs have been sold on the territory of our country. The contractors who bought the documents are not from Bulgaria only.

In fact, the price varies between BGN 1,500 and BGN 2,000. for a document. The man didn't work alone. This is a person who contacts with other people who want to purchase identity documents. There are others who have been involved in their production. If we gather enough evidence, we will charge them as well," said GDBOP Director Lyubomir Yanev during a briefing. 

In the course of the investigation process, three addresses in Shumen were searched, officers seized 1.17343 bitcoins, BGN 13,000 in cash, 18 cards for direct withdrawal of virtual currencies, two mobile phones, two laptops, a hard drive, numerous photos of American and Bulgarian identity documents. It remains to be determined whether the documents and the data of U.S. citizens listed there are genuine or not, as well as what purpose they served.

 Before being detected the crime group has been functioning for over two years.