Swedish tourist seeks police help over Bt100,000 gone from bank account

By The Nation

 

 

A Swedish tourist filed a complaint with a Pattaya police station on Friday, after someone stole Bt99,900 from his bank account, leaving just Bt1.38 left.
 

Henrik Christian Koch, 49, filed the complaint at 10am, after someone used the phone number 098-9301045 to create an Internet banking account and tied it to his account with the Bangkok Bank’s Central Festival Pattaya Beach branch.

 

Koch said the thief used the Internet banking account to transfer money from his account twice on March 12, 2017 for Bt90,000 and Bt9,900.

 

Koch said he opened the bank account on December 29, 2016 with a first deposit of Bt500 and gradually deposited money before he returned to his homeland to work for a year.

 

He recently returned to Thailand and in a visit to Pattaya found the money had been moved out when he checked the account.

 

He said the bank checked, and finding the money had been removed through Internet banking, requested that Koch file a police complaint.

 

To open an Internet banking account usually requires knowledge of the account owner’s ID card or passport number plus the PIN of the account’s ATM card.

 

Koch said the bank did not say how it would compensate him.

 

Pol Captain Thanin Kanphai, an officer of Pattaya police station, said police will search for the owner of the phone number.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30340018

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-03-02

Sounds a bit iffy.

With my Kasikorn account to withdraw or transfer money over the Internet I need a special one-off code which they send to my registered mobile number.

The code can only be used once and they also send a withdrawal alert to my phone.

Maybe other banks vary but I thought this was standard procedure.

 

Assuming the money was actually stolen,

 

49.95% chance the required information was sourced from a bank employee.

49.95% chance the required information was sourced from Thai partner.

0.1% chance this was another person.

Inside job at the Bank as they would have copies of all this information. Good luck.

Sent from my SM-T815Y using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

how would a bank employee know his PIN number

2 hours ago, mercman24 said:

how would a bank employee know his PIN number

Probably had the authority to see it in the system i guess....or found a way to sniff the banks traffic.

 

This is exactly why i won't get a Thai bank account....

I can understand elderly retirees being conned, but a 49 year old?? There is much more to this story, most probably a thai gf whom he has trusted with his phone & ATM pin. All sorts of documents have to be personally signed for opening internet baking account.  Even then, transfers absolutely cannot be done without access to OTP (One Time Pin) sent to your registered phone. And it will also send a message to your mobile when transfer is effected. Anyway, lucky he got away with losing just 100k. 

Those of you commenting about OTPS those would have gone to the fraudulent mobile. Check the SIM who it is registered to also check the owner of the account that the money was transferred to....easy to find the culprits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A bit weird, him not noticing anything for a year, unless it was monopoly money for him. Anyway, I guess it will all come out in the wash; on a very cold trail.

I've had a Bangkok Bank account for years, if you're a foreigner you can't open on-line account without going to your Bank in person, well that's what I was told by Bangkok Bank when I tried to open one !!!

 

dont the bank have a fraud department? wouldn't this be the first place to make enquiries?

 

 

" police will search for the owner of the phone number.",

just ring the number and see if anyone answers, would

be the first step i think.

regards worgeordie

They published the phone number. 

 

THEY PUBLISHED THE PHONE NUMBER LOL! 

Huh ? Money taken out in March 2017 (a year ago) and he only noticed when he came here ? Call my cynical but, I tend to check my money accounts more than once a year. 

The dangers of Internet banking.  In Thailand I always go to the bank when I want money,  Doesn't take long and is safe, never use an ATM.  Too many people are hooked on technology and use their phone for financial dealings and put their details on their phone.  Fine till you lose it !

14 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Huh ? Money taken out in March 2017 (a year ago) and he only noticed when he came here ? Call my cynical but, I tend to check my money accounts more than once a year. 

Check for what? Most certainly is not for the acquired interest...

1 hour ago, martin501 said:

I've had a Bangkok Bank account for years, if you're a foreigner you can't open on-line account without going to your Bank in person, well that's what I was told by Bangkok Bank when I tried to open one !!!

Few months ago I went to Bangkok Bank in person because I wanted to CLOSE one of the acccounts (in another city 400 km away); They told me I had to go there in person: so 800 km vice versa. Later I noted that closing an account could be done by internet banking, no problem whatsoever, was done in a minute, Sometimes these employees really do not know what they are talking about. 

13 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

The dangers of Internet banking.  In Thailand I always go to the bank when I want money,  Doesn't take long and is safe, never use an ATM.  Too many people are hooked on technology and use their phone for financial dealings and put their details on their phone.  Fine till you lose it !

Even if you go there in person and not use any technology like phone, your money can be stolen from your bank account Probably inside jobs, it happened to several persons. Very difficult to convince a bank like Bangkok Bank, that they should pay back the damage. They resist, it can take a year and a lawyer, but eventually they will pay back everything and pay for the lawyer as well.

5 minutes ago, fullcave said:

Check for what? Most certainly is not for the acquired interest...

Well, if I had an account in a fairly 'dubious' country known for scams and bribery I think I'd be more security concious thinking

18 hours ago, Briggsy said:

Assuming the money was actually stolen,

 

49.95% chance the required information was sourced from a bank employee.

49.95% chance the required information was sourced from Thai partner.

0.1% chance this was another person.

99.7% you're correct.

0.3% you're wrong.

A libelous post has been removed

2 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Well, if I had an account in a fairly 'dubious' country known for scams and bribery I think I'd be more security concious thinking

Yes, maybe better not to even open an account then, if you have to monitor the account merely to find out if your money has been stolen! 

 

40 minutes ago, jaiyen said:

The dangers of Internet banking.  In Thailand I always go to the bank when I want money,  Doesn't take long and is safe, never use an ATM.  Too many people are hooked on technology and use their phone for financial dealings and put their details on their phone.  Fine till you lose it !

yes ....   it's better not to use any electronic device near any credit cards or they may be cloned.

"finding the money had been removed through Internet banking"

The only things you can really do with (Thai) internet banking is transfer money to other accounts (yours or someone else's) or pay bills/top up phone (etc, etc). You can't do wire transfers unless you meet certain conditions (work permit and such) and can't make withdrawals of course.

At least that's how it is at Bangkok Bank (which is who I do most of my banking with). 

 

So you'd have to assume that the money was transferred to another account in which case they should, easily, be able to figure out where it went to (and thus who the most likely suspect would be). There would be records of when "someone" logged into the Swede's account, when a new "third party account" was set up, when the OTOP was sent (and then entered on the banking site) and when the transfers were made.

When I set up my internet banking, I had to go into the branch to make the arrangements (and supply my phone number) and then use their ATM to enter my user name and password. After that I was able to go home and log in on my PC. 

However, I wasn't allowed to set up internet banking until after I had a "1 year visa".
I had to go to the branch with my passport so they could copy the page with the visa information (and I had to sign the copy of course). The main reason I wanted the iBanking was so that I could do wire transfers easier. However they told me that I needed to have a work permit and tax receipts (to show where the money had come from) before I would be allowed to send wire transfers using iBank. 

Which I thought was rather odd as all the money in my account had come from wire transfers from abroad (my paycheques), and they never ask for a work permit or "tax receipts" when I do a wire transfer while in the branch office ! 

However, I know from personal experience that if someone has a "friend" in the bank, it's pretty easy to get around the rules. Like how my (late) dad's g/f was able to go empty his bank account after he died, despite me having taken his phone, passport, ATM card, bank book and all other forms of ID.

I thought it was secure as the bank was supposed to phone him every time his g/f went to make a withdrawal on his behalf, and she had to have the bank book and a signed copy of his passport face page before they would approve a withdrawal.
Apparently, she was able to walk into her "favourite" branch of the bank and acquire a new bank book and had extra copies of his passport page (pre-signed or maybe just good colour copies). Who knows, maybe she didn't even have that. She could have easily (probably) changed the phone number on the account as well so that any calls from the bank would go to her (or her "friend").

She was then able to take out 20,000 a day, every day, until the account was empty. She even went back and scooped a small interest payment that was deposited into the account a couple months later !

I came back a little over 3 months later to find that I couldn't update the bank book (as a new one had been issued, which I found out when I went into a branch to inquire). When I found the account had been emptied (they showed me the transactions that had gone on) I asked them how it was possible as I had all of dad's ID and bank stuff. They just shrugged their shoulders. No answer. Didn't know and apparently couldn't care less.

 

When I applied for BB's 'Bua Luang' online service, I had apply 'long hand' at the branch holding my account. The procedure took 8-10 days with how-to instructions sent to my registered email address.

 

Chances are, this guy opened the account but either wasn't going to be around long enough to complete the online service setup or opted that it wasn't required at the time.

 

More recently, BB has introduced the 'PromptPay' system where transactions are enabled through mobile phone numbers. I seriously doubt that this system can be easily compromised and I seriously doubt that this guys account was singled out by a shonky BB employee.

 

24 minutes ago, car720 said:

Most probably a smart move by this guy.

He probably knows that the girlfriend took it but is smart enough not to confront her personally so he gets the cops to do the deed for him.  Smart move.

I think this is probably nearer to the truth.

Edited March 3, 20188 yr by NanLaew

2 hours ago, samsensam said:

 

dont the bank have a fraud department? wouldn't this be the first place to make enquiries?

 

 

They are probably the culprits?

17 hours ago, mercman24 said:

how would a bank employee know his PIN number

changed the phone number attached to the bank account ?

18 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

When I set up my internet banking, I had to go into the branch to make the arrangements (and supply my phone number) and then use their ATM to enter my user name and password. After that I was able to go home and log in on my PC. 

Your lucky, I've been to my branch four times in the last two years and done exactly the same thing and I still can't log in. I've just given up now.

12 minutes ago, nahkit said:

Your lucky, I've been to my branch four times in the last two years and done exactly the same thing and I still can't log in. I've just given up now.

You're doing it wrong... but you've given up already so never mind that it works for hundreds of others.

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

Huh ? Money taken out in March 2017 (a year ago) and he only noticed when he came here ? Call my cynical but, I tend to check my money accounts more than once a year. 

How you do that when you're abroad and don't have online banking, which the Swede obviously didn't have.

 

Answers on a postcard please.