Pattaya Police Arrest Woman For Stealing Foreigner’s Atm Card And Withdrawing 270 K Baht

[mcd]

A young woman, who was acquainted with an English tourist, stole his ATM card and, somehow, obtained the pin number. She withdrew 270,000 baht from his bank account.

On 2 July 2007, at 5:40 PM, Pol.Lt.Col. Suwan Un-anan, Tourist Police Investigator, with a team of police officers arrested Miss Suntraporn Maneejan (20), residing at 105, Moo 12, Nongprue, Banglamung, Chonburi, in accordance with Pattaya Court Arrest Warrant 697/2550. Miss Suntraporn was charged with robbery. Police arrested her while she was walking in front of "Sukkasem Apartment" 76/78, Moo 5, Soi Nern-plubwan, Nongprue,Banglamung, Chonburi.

Pol.Lt.Col. Suwan said that on 8 June 2007, Miss Suntraporn, the accused, went to visit Mr. Mark David Bigwood, an English tourist, at 14/16, Moo 12, Huey Yai, Banglamung, Chonburi, posing as a close friend.

Miss Suntraporn used her acquaintance with Mr. Mark to steal his ATM card and used the card to withdraw money from an ATM. She apparently knew the pin number. She used the card from 8 – 9 June, twenty-two times, to withdraw 270,000 baht. Then, she fled upcountry.

Several days later, Mr. Mark realized that Miss Suntraporn had stolen his ATM card and reported the crime to Banglamung Police. Police requested the Pattaya Court to issue an arrest warrant and coordinated with the Tourist Police to arrest the alleged perpetrator.

After the theft, Miss Suntraporn went into hiding until the Tourist police found out that she had come to stay at "Sukkasem Apartment." The police team, armed with an arrest warrant, arrested Miss Suntraporn.

Miss Suntraporn confessed to stealing the ATM card and withdrawing the money in order to pay debts that she had accumulated upcountry. Police asked the victim, Mr. Mark David, to identify the criminal and will process the case according to the law.

News Type : Crime

Story : WP.

Photo : Campee

Translater :

http://pattayadailynews.com/shownews.php?IDNEWS=0000003320

[Humphrey Bear]

Is he a tourist or visa-runner?

Is the ATM card local (i.e. a Thai bank), because most have a daily limit.

I keep my limit down to just 20k, in case of just such an event..

And how did she "pose as a good friend"? She either was, or wasn't.

Just some expensive nooky, I reckon. Now turned into a few rai of paddy.

[PhilHarries]

My Cirrus card has a limit of 250GBP per day or the local monetary equivalent or the local bank's own limit whichever is lowest. So 270,000 THB is not possible in two days unless some banks allow a higher limit. I would have thought the issuing bank's, assuming UK bank, security system would have flagged up 22 hits in two days though. There's so much card fraud in the UK these days that any use of a card in S. E. Asia sets off the alarms.

[geordie]

I think if it was a UK card the banks fraud squad would have picked up on that amount, and the number of withdrawls done in 2 days. I have a limit of 400 pounds a day with the HSBC Bank, and they are always putting a mark on my card. I travel a lot for my work, if i use it in Holland 1 day and i fly straight to Bangkok and try and use it the next day, it will have a mark put on it by the banks fraud squad. Now i have to call the bank in advance to tell them which country i will be in next. Its a pain and sometimes i do forget to tell them.

[fruity]

Seems a lot of money, from, we assume a UK card?

I bank with Barclays, have done for many years; have been using my atms in Thailand for over 12 years without problems until recently. Every time I go to withdraw, I get the contact the issuing bank message, each time I phone the UK, each time I am promised faithfully it will not happen again, I have specified a city, even a particular atm machine where I will make the withdrawals. Last time it happened, after ranting & raving I was told by some supervisor that ALL Barclays atm cards are flagged in Thailand, Thailand being the number one hot spot for card fraud? I found/find this hard to believe. Does anyone else have problems with Barclays? Since my last call; touch wood, they seem to have remedied my problem. Only took 20-plus phone calls!

[Luckydog]

The Silly Sod is lucky they caught the person who stole his money but I bet he doesn't get it back!

I can only draw 20000bht a day with my Nationwide debit Card so goodness knows how she got SO much in two days?

Anyway, it's hard to feel sorry for a twit who allows his pin number to be found by a.n.other

[PhilHarries]

Last time it happened, after ranting & raving I was told by some supervisor that ALL Barclays atm cards are flagged in Thailand, Thailand being the number one hot spot for card fraud? I found/find this hard to believe. Does anyone else have problems with Barclays?

Never tried to use my Electron card outside the UK as my Barclays account is just a standby.

It's either comforting or disturbing that I have used my Cirrus card around S. E. Asia extensively (TH, VN, PI & MY), never told them I was going to do this and never had a problem in any of the four countries.

I can confirm that Thailand is a hotspot for card fraud. My brother in law had his card cloned via a filling station in UK and the next day it was used in Phuket. Now that's what I call fast work, wish the UK banks could issue cards that quick.

The only problem I did have was the other week when there was a problem with the network and I got three declines in one evening and the fraud department closed the card down until I phoned them. This is why I would have thought had matey's card been issued by a UK bank they would have closed it pronto. But if it's a Thai bank what is a "tourist" doing with a bank account? Plus, as far as I recall, my Thai Farmers ATM card had a limit of 20k Baht per day.

Something of a piscean nature about this story (fishy).

[EmCross]

I have a UK Lloyds TSB ATM card and I have had similar problems as fruity. The maximum I can take out in 24 hours is 20K and if I try and use it more than twice in 24 hours, regardless of the amount, they put a stop on it and I have to ring them and explain I am in Thailand and get them to release it so I can use it. It has also been locked for no apparent reason several times. I do appreciate that they need to have good security measures in place but after the 2nd or 3rd time of doing this you would think that they would put something on the account to say that this person is in Thailand (or where ever) and not keep locking the card it is very annoying at times.

[Humphrey Bear]

British banks have long ago abandoned any attempt at customer relations. ll they are concerned about is liability (none for the bank).

I spent many years with Midland, had a second account with Barclays. Neither gave any real satisfaction after about 1980, so I changed to Lloyds. Still do not get the treatment I used to receive - but with all the plastic flying around I think they are at high risk - so pass all that risk on to the customer.

Could there not be a way of linking the credit card or debit card to a different recognition system - retina scan or fingerprints or something - so that cloning a card does not do any good?

Or just use top-up cards.

Personally I do not use credit cards at all - just debit cards and ATM cards, so that all that is at risk is what is in that account. My main accounts are used to top-up the satellite accounts when needed.