Two Russian tourists robbed of thousands of dollars from same Pattaya hotel

[webfact]

Daily News Thai Caption: He was robbed

 

Police in Pattaya are investigating two incidents of theft from safes in guests rooms.

 

This after two Russian nationals in separate rooms reported that they had lost some of the cash they had in US dollars in the safe. 

 

Police are working on the assumption that it is an inside job noting the cleverness of the thief in not removing the tourists' whole cash pile in order to cover their tracks.

 

 One case of theft was reported to the Muang district police by Oleg Gipke who said he checking into the hotel in Soi Kasetsin last Wednesday.

 

He put US $5,000 in the safe.

 

On Sunday he noticed that it had been tampered with in some way and he checked it. $1,000 was missing.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

The hotel said he should go to the police and after that they can provide CCTV.

 

Then it became apparent that a different Pol Lt-Col had received a report of identical nature from another Russian tourist at the same hotel - except the theft was bigger.

 

Natalina Chernova said that she had put US $16,000 in her safe.

 

Someone took 4,000 out. 

 

Police are studying CCTV to get a lead in the case. 

 

Daily News in reporting the case referred to the tourists in their headline as "White Bears".

 

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[JoePai]

Police are looking for a Ukrainian with a smug smile on his face

[Henryford]

Well done that thief.

[Salerno]

Cash is king 

[Peterw42]

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

Police are studying CCTV to get a lead in the case. 

Not sure, but I think a thief that has access to the rooms, and access to the safe, would also have access to the cctv system.

[d4dang]

line for Natalina?

[looplaw]

4 minutes ago, Salerno said:

Cash is king 

Sounds like insurance scam. What thief would not take it all!

[Shop mak]

And both possible robbery victims, have exchange slip to prove that they brought so much cash with them

[Salerno]

4 minutes ago, looplaw said:

Sounds like insurance scam. What thief would not take it all!

Actually, it's not a new thing. If you trawl through historic threads on various websites you'll find similar reports - only the magnitude is different. The theory being, cleaner/staff/wife for the night at accommodation knows how to open safe, you have a big night, while out of the room/asleep, perp opens safe, sees a stack of cash, grabs a few notes on the premise you won't be sure about the total you had as opposed to grabbing the whole lot in which case you are likely to be sure 100% you've been robbed.

[ozimoron]

LOL, a thief took 4,000 out and left 12,000 in.

[worgeordie]

16 minutes ago, looplaw said:

Sounds like insurance scam. What thief would not take it all!

A thief that worked at the hotel and had access to the rooms , hoping if they

did not take it all ,it might not be missed , a thief  with no connection to the

hotel would have took the lot.

 

regards worgeordie 

[ozimoron]

5 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

A thief that worked at the hotel and had access to the rooms , hoping if they

did not take it all ,it might not be missed , a thief  with no connection to the

hotel would have took the lot.

 

regards worgeordie 

Yes, it happened to me in Saigon about ten years ago. They took part of the money.

[Woof999]

I hope the police recover all of the stolen money and pass it on to some displaced Ukrainians ASAP.

[ozimoron]

1 minute ago, Woof999 said:

I hope the police recover all of the stolen money and pass it on to some displaced Ukrainians ASAP.

Those guys have some 'spailing to do first.

[persimmon]

Why would anyone put all their valuables in a small box in the room , when an unknown number of people have keys to open it ?

[ozimoron]

3 minutes ago, persimmon said:

Why would anyone put all their valuables in a small box in the room , when an unknown number of people have keys to open it ?

They can't put it in a bank. Where else can they put it?

[sammieuk1]

Two honest taxi drivers are on route ????

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

Well done that thief.

Unbelievable that some people condone theft from visitors to Thailand.

[Mywayboy]

I would have left a note where's the rest.

[Liverpool Lou]

59 minutes ago, looplaw said:

1 hour ago, Salerno said:

Cash is king 

Sounds like insurance scam. What thief would not take it all!

No it doesn't.  Most travel insurance policies impose low limits (a few hundred) for stolen cash claims unless there was a special endorsement to the policy.

 

"What thief would not take it all!"

The thief who didn't want to be caught, perhaps, and thought that it may not have been noticed then maybe went back later for further 'withdrawals'.

[fdsa]

26 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

They can't put it in a bank. Where else can they put it?

on an Unionpay branded debit card.

[HuskerDo2]

"Natalina Chernova said that she had put US $16,000 in her safe"....... The RTP just stated last week that they were no longer going to divulge the nationality of people in criminal investigations and here they are giving the names as well.

 

I referred to the RTP as the Keystone Cops in the past. That was wrong of me.  The RTP is FAR more comical.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

Tomorrow's headline, it was all a misunderstanding as the money never went missing, it was found to be under the flimsy foam mat in the safe. 

 

As for the OP asking what thief wouldn't take it all, well, have you ever heard of the old saying; let the water from the tap drip as opposed to letting it run fully on, that way you won't run out of water.

 

Many moons ago I was on a good thing working for the government, letting the tap drip, others soon got onto this but let the tap run fully so to speak, they all made front page news when they got caught, me on the other hand kept letting the tap drip, you see, when monthly statistics fluctuate greatly, others see the decline in revenue, but if there steady, no one will raise their heads.

 

 

[HuskerDo2]

They are Russian and are in Thailand, yet they are both carrying US Dollars. Sniff, sniff..... Something doesn't smell quite right.

[Salerno]

Just now, HuskerDo2 said:

They are Russian and are in Thailand, yet they are both carrying US Dollars. Sniff, sniff..... Something doesn't smell quite right.

You expect them to carry Rubles?

[Liverpool Lou]

56 minutes ago, Shop mak said:

And both possible robbery victims, have exchange slip to prove that they brought so much cash with them

No, they would not have to prove how much cash they brought with them. They would only have to prove the loss of the amount that they would be trying to claim from their insurer and that would, usually, be very limited on most travel policies.

[Liverpool Lou]

58 minutes ago, ozimoron said:

LOL, a thief took 4,000 out and left 12,000 in.

Likely there was method in his/her madness.

[Liverpool Lou]

42 minutes ago, Woof999 said:

I hope the police recover all of the stolen money and pass it on to some displaced Ukrainians ASAP.

Why, what did those tourists do to deserve that ridiculously unfair suggestion of treatment? 

 

Are you responsible for your government's unilateral actions?

[tomyami]

 

cash in a hotel safe in pattaya is easy pickings i usually leave 1k baht note deliberately

Staff check all safes especially key card door entry ones they record all movement,

Staff rarely prosecuted hotels have massive protection here when it come to tourism

but we all know russians lie so "som nam na" 

There is a limit of 10k US out of Russia

 

[Liverpool Lou]

42 minutes ago, persimmon said:

Why would anyone put all their valuables in a small box in the room , when an unknown number of people have keys to open it ?

"Why would anyone put all their valuables in a small box..."

They didn't, they put the cash in "safes" for which, this century, almost none have keys.