Police have arrested a Swedish man and a Filipino for allegedly using fake credit and ATM cards to steal at least 10 million baht in major cities across Thailand.
Pol Maj Gen Thanitsak Theerasawas, of Provincial Police Region 5, with suspects Per Johan Robin Bentley, a Swedish national, and Martin Philip Javellana Magno, a Filipino national. CHEEWIN SATTHA
The suspects — Per Johan Robin Bentley, 29, and Martin Philip Javellana Magno, 31 — were apprehended when they tried to use fake credit cards to buy products at the Tesco Lotus Kham Tiang branch in Chiang Mai yesterday, said Provincial Police Region 5 deputy commissioner Thanitsak Theerasawas.
The suspects were initially found in possession of dozens of fake cards. A subsequent search of their hotel room in Chiang Mai discovered about 500 cloned cards, an ATM skimmer, two spy cameras and assorted equipment used to produce fake cards.
The men, who had allegedly used fake credit cards and ATM cards to steal cash and buy goods in the Philippines and South Korea, had stolen an estimated 10 million baht since arriving in Thailand three years ago, police said.
Pol Maj Gen Thanitsak said an investigation was launched after a Kasikornbank staff member notified police that someone was using bogus cards with stolen customer numbers to withdraw money from its ATMs in Chiang Mai.
He said the probe found the suspects were staying at a city hotel.
Investigators then tracked the men for several days and nabbed them after they used cloned cards at the Tesco Lotus.
According to police, Mr Bentley and Mr Magno confessed to robbing ATMs in several big cities, including Hat Yai, Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
They previously operated in the Philippines and South Korea.
The suspects said they bought skimmers and devices for fraud from China, Pol Maj Gen Thanitsak said.