Tourist police arrested two Taiwanese men on charges of possessing fake electronic cards on Sunday and later nabbed two others after they tried to bribe officials to secure their friends’ release.
Pol Maj Gen Surachet Hukpan, chief of the Tourist Police Divison, said officers caught Lee Jui Seng, 30, and Chiew Chin Bin, 29, when they were withdrawing money using a counterfeit credit card at an ATM machine on Sathu Pradit Soi 15 in Yannawa district, Bangkok. The officers, who were acting on a tip, found 29 fake cards in their possession.
They took Mr Lee and Mr Chiew to their room at TIT Tower Condominium on Sathu Pradit Soi 20 to search for more evidence.
In the room, police found five blank cards, a skimming device, two card readers and a laptop computer. The men were taken into custody at Bang Phongphang police station. They were charged with possessing equipment to produce fake electronic cards.
Shortly after, officials nabbed two more Taiwanese men, identified as Liew Cheng Siao, 34, and Liew Kun Yen, 44, after they showed up at the police station and offered 300,000 baht as a bribe to officials in exchange for the release of Mr Lee and Mr Chiew.
The pair were initially charged with bribery.
An investigation found the four men arrived in Thailand in late May on tourist visas and used bogus cards containing financial information of Thai and foreign nationals to withdraw at least 10 million baht from ATMs, Pol Maj Gen Surachet said.