Four Bulgarians and a German
have been arrested for allegedly stealing 20 million baht from Siam
Commercial Bank ATMs with counterfeit electronic cards.
Boonlua Chatree
Four Bulgarians and a German were arrested for allegedly
stealing 20 million baht from Siam Commercial Bank ATMs with counterfeit
electronic cards.
Responding to a call from the bank’s fraud department
that a gang of thieves were hitting ATMs all over Pattaya, Chonburi
Provincial Police dispatched officers to stake out cash machines around the
city, eventually spotting the suspected gang members near Soi Potisan in
Naklua April 5.
Arrested were German Palmen Ivanov Hlebarov, 45, who was
suspected of being the ring leader and was caught with seven fake cards on
him. Also apprehended were Bulgarians Stefan Nikolaev Savovski, 38; Iliyan
Aleksandrov Ininski, 37; Diana Dianova Dimitrova, 20; and Gergana Hristova
Krekmanova, 27. The four Eastern Europeans were caught with a total of 36
bogus ATM cards on them.
At an April 6 press conference, Chonburi Police
Superintendent Maj. Gen. Jumnong Rattanakul said the cards were cloned from
tourists in Finland, England, Germany and China.
He added that Hlebarov had confessed to leading the gang
to Thailand to withdraw funds from ATMs and that they had already taken more
than 20 million baht.
All the suspects were charged with producing and using
counterfeit electronic cards.
