Brit Arrested With Bogus Banknotes In Phuket

[djc45]

how come Thai ATMs can check and credit cash deposits to my account immediatly, and in the UK i must wait 2 WORKING days, so if i deposit cash on a friday, i cant access that cash until tues or wednesday?

and didnt germany win england when someone changed their names to windsor?

ef

e2a - much like england 'won' the world for god knows how long by making up a bunch of 'rules'

Nice.....

dont know what uk bank you use but any cash deposited in all uk bank accounts that you have an atm card for will show at the atm immediatly not in two days as you say

[Bagwan]

Brit arrested with bogus banknotes in Phuket

The note is an obviously forgery. Fancy getting a transvestite dolled up to look like Betty Windsor! They have got the colour of the wig all wrong too; it should have been white or silver grey. Whoever is pulling this stroke is dumber than the aforementioned goat.

BTW the word goat can, and is, used as a description for a lecherous man. Quite a few here I'm thinking.

[djc45]

The most worrying fact obviously is that he has been arrested and bailed before proven guilty.

But even more worrying is this: caught with one or two fake bills, the assumption is that he is a forger and he is treated as one. This could happen to any innocent person here.

Think the police have acted correct it would be the same in most countries

Arrested and charged on suspicion of the crime and bail you until they make further investigations

and you are allways arrested before proven guilty

[Scott]

I think how they decide to charge someone is rather clear. If I walk into the bank with a stack of bills to exchange and the bank goes through them and finds one or two that are not acceptable (not necessarily forgeries), they will simply not exchange them or confiscate them, the police will probably question, but not charge you.

If I walk into a bank with a stack of dodgy bills, then there is pretty good reason to believe that I am up to something rather suspicious. I would most likely get arrested.

[TAWP]

I think how they decide to charge someone is rather clear. If I walk into the bank with a stack of bills to exchange and the bank goes through them and finds one or two that are not acceptable (not necessarily forgeries), they will simply not exchange them or confiscate them, the police will probably question, but not charge you.

If I walk into a bank with a stack of dodgy bills, then there is pretty good reason to believe that I am up to something rather suspicious. I would most likely get arrested.

Exactly, which is why I think this man is mostly likely not just another tourist that did a mistake, but something more...

[Scott]

Has anyone heard any updates on this story? Any word on if the bills were fake? What's happened to the suspect?

[12DrinkMore]

nearly off topic, but once in the States, I took forty $50 bills in to deposit. I had counted the wad several times in my car before entering my bank. The woman teller counted them by hand and claimed there were 39 bills. I couldn't argue with her, but I felt I lost $50 by her sleight of hand.

That was not nearly off topic, it was totally off topic.

Jeeze, the amount of off topic nonsense in this thread is driving me nuts.

[Wombat6]

I think hes telling the truth and the money he got from the bank in the UK was 2000 GBP in brand new 20's. They would have been kept nice and clean in his luggage and when he took the money to the bank in Thaliland they got suspicious because of the newness and being the newer 20' with the hologram . I would also think that not many people these days bring bundles of cash as debit/credit cards are used. This man possbly thought about the cost of using the ATM transfer fee and exchange rate given , decided to take cash and when the rate was higher than what he could get in the UK , cash in the money here for a higher baht rate and aslo save money by not haveing to pay 8 GBP per 100 pounds in UK and Thai bank fees .. Its not rocket science but I think the newer notes confused the teller .

Get real mate!...who carries money in their luggage these days ( unless you are referring to hand held??)

[ukrules]

It's worth pointing out that the 'new' twenty pound note design has been around for over two years now, so it's not that new any more.

[ukrules]

Get real mate!...who carries money in their luggage these days ( unless you are referring to hand held??)

I pretty much always bring a couple of thousand in twenty pound notes when I travel, the rest I get from the ATM when it runs out. I carry it in my hand luggage though.

[tracer0]

I think hes telling the truth and the money he got from the bank in the UK was 2000 GBP in brand new 20's. They would have been kept nice and clean in his luggage and when he took the money to the bank in Thaliland they got suspicious because of the newness and being the newer 20' with the hologram . I would also think that not many people these days bring bundles of cash as debit/credit cards are used. This man possbly thought about the cost of using the ATM transfer fee and exchange rate given , decided to take cash and when the rate was higher than what he could get in the UK , cash in the money here for a higher baht rate and aslo save money by not haveing to pay 8 GBP per 100 pounds in UK and Thai bank fees .. Its not rocket science but I think the newer notes confused the teller .

20 banknotes is not a lot of banknotes. In the past and I mean 20-30 years ago I normally took $100 notes with me and carried them in a belt. Now I normally carry very little in the pocket since living here. What makes me wonder is why he paid that money to stay out of jail while they check the bills (If they can!). Has he contacted the Brittish Embassy or Lloyds??? If he bought them in the bank he likely has an exchange paper and the bank, if he is known to them should be able to clear it up before they get changed by something in the trip to Bangkok!

[Maejo Man]

Three days now, and not a peep out of the Wallopers. Are the notes indeed genuine? Is Mr. Pritchard still out on bail, and more to the point, is he still in Thailand? Time will tell I suppose.....

[rayong09]

But when Thais do the same, they must be doing something wrong, at least according to some know-it-all Brits....your expertise in this is about as good as the chances of England winning Germany in football...ouch.

And your Grammar is on a par with a 5 year old. It should be "England beating Germany at football".

I think that England 'won' Germany back in 1945 .....did'nt they .

Two world wars and one world cup.

[Datsun240Z]

The daily limit, without special authorisation, on most UK ATMs is still £200.00.

Depends on who you bank with rather than the ATM.

Don't know about UK, best here in NL, I can easily get 1000 to 1500 euro at a time from the ATM.

Anyhow, I'm sure the Britt is lying, fake notes don't come out of ATM, they are well checked. He obviously believed the Thai's would fall for the trick, well they do. But NOT at an money exchange point.

[tropo]

The daily limit, without special authorisation, on most UK ATMs is still £200.00.

Depends on who you bank with rather than the ATM.

Don't know about UK, best here in NL, I can easily get 1000 to 1500 euro at a time from the ATM.

Anyhow, I'm sure the Britt is lying, fake notes don't come out of ATM, they are well checked. He obviously believed the Thai's would fall for the trick, well they do. But NOT at an money exchange point.

Here in Thailand I can get 100,000 baht (US $3000) from any ATM with my Citibank ATM card.

[ignis]

As we are still talking about ATM withdrawals which has nothing to to with the Post, here in Thailand on both my Thai ATM cards I was asked if I wanted a max daily limit.. In 6 years living here permanent I have only once wanted over the limit I had set.

[petedk]

Brit arrested with bogus banknotes in Phuket

The Bank of England introduced a new 20-pound banknote

in March 2007. It has several security features, including raised print,

a holographic strip, florescent features and micro lettering.

PHUKET CITY: -- A British tourist faces life in prison after being charged with forging English pound notes and trying to exchange them for Thai baht.

According to Chalong Police, Martin William Pritchard, 52, from Bristol, went to the Karon branch of the Nakorn Luang Thai Bank and tried to exchange twenty 20-pound notes for 21,972 baht.

The teller became suspicious and called police, who arrested Mr Pritchard.

Under Thai law, anyone convicted of passing forged currency can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined up to 30,000 baht.

If convicted of the more serious crime of forgery, they could be sentenced to life in prison.

Mr Pritchard has denied all accusations, police said.

He told police he withdrew 1,500 pounds from a branch of Lloyds TSB in England before coming to Thailand on holiday last month.

The money appeared to be real and he had no reason to believe otherwise, he told police.

Mr Pritchard, who has already been released on 300,000 baht bail, is expected to appear in court later this month.

Meanwhile, police have sent the suspect notes to Bangkok to determine their authenticity.

-- Phuket Gazette 2009-08-17

Well, it's almost the end of the month. Any news?

Were they genuine notes after all?

[loong]

Well, it's almost the end of the month. Any news?

Were they genuine notes after all?

It can be irritating when you get a news item like this and then nothing more is ever reported!

They should have established whether the notes are genuine or not by now!

[Pui]

Yes but i was just referring to the other posts on this subject. FYI....i also read and understood the the original press release and yes i could also see that no ATM was mentioned...............geeeeeeez !! duh !!

Maybe you are a bit slow, so i will explain for your express help !

1) Surely they can trace back through his statements if he did in fact withdraw the notes , and the date.

2) If he had withdrawn from an ATM there will be some kind of a traceable record.

So you actually did realise that these notes were not issued by an ATM?

Yet still you ask the question?

"Surely those notes can be traced back through his bank statement and the ATM in the UK ?"

If you accept that the cash was withdrawn from a branch and not an ATM, how would checking ATM records be at all useful?

...He's got a point! "Not ATM" how many times?

Edited August 28, 2009 by Pui

[sunholidaysun1]

What ATM did he use then ?

[Kan Win]

Pdf Flie 1.9 mb

Check your money

Your truly,

Kan Win

[petedk]

Pdf Flie 1.9 mb

Check your money

Your truly,

Kan Win

Maybe the cashier couldn't see the word "specimen" on the notes and therefore thought they were forged.

Seriously, by now they must know whether the notes were forged or not.

They are talking about a crime committed by a foreigner that can give life imprisonment in Thailand. Usually something like that would get far more press coverage, so my guess is that they found out pretty quickly that the notes were genuine and the guy was quietly released.

I notice the police here are very very quick too make a statement about a crime only to retract or change the statement after a few days.