BANGKOK, Oct 18 – Acting on complaints from several European banks, Thai police arrested two Bulgarian nationals in downtown Bangkok for ATM skimming.
Technology Crime Suppression Division police arrested two Bulgarian men, identified as Rosen Georgief Evstatiev and Georgi Kirilov Gusev at Ploenchit Center in Sukhumvit Road while they attempted to withdraw cash from automated teller machines (ATM) in the building.
Police searched their rented hotel room in the Sukhumvit area and found 72 ATM cards, Bt107,000 cash, 2,200 euro banknotes, a computer and an ATM skimmer.
The arrest came as officials of Siam Commercial Bank were asked by banks in Europe to seek the arrest of the suspects who stole personal data of their clients to make fake ATM cards.
The two men used their self-made cards to withdraw cash from ATM machines in Thailand, causing several million baht in damages.
The two detainees confessed that they bought the information of bank clients from the Internet to make counterfeit ATM cards and used them to withdraw money. They said using the fake cards to withdraw money was successful in some cases and failed in others.
Thai officials initially charged the two men for violating the Thai Computer Act by colluding to produce counterfeit electronic ATM cards, causing damage to others, as well as getting or accessing personal data of other persons without their permission.
