Thai Police Arrest Two Germans For Internet Banking Theft

[webfact]

Thai police arrest German graduates for internet banking theft

BANGKOK: -- Police said Monday they arrested two German university graduates as suspected members of an internet banking theft ring preying on Thai nationals.

Dominik Iacono, 22, and Dave Ackermann, 23, both recent graduates from Munich University, were arrested in Pattaya beach resort over the weekend, said Police Colonel Suphisarn Pakdinarunart, acting commissioner of the Crime Suppression Department.

The two young men allegedly hacked an online banking account belonging to an unidentified Thai woman soldier on August 1, and transferred 700,000 baht (21,875 dollars) from her account to bank deposits belonging to three female Thai acquaintances.

Suphisarn said the two men were believed to be small players in an international internet theft ring headquartered in Russia which was hacking into e-banking accounts in Thailand.

Both suspects pleaded guilty to the charges after they were confronted with photos showing them withdrawing money at cash machines from accounts to which the funds had been diverted, Suthisarn said.

"We estimate the ring may have stolen up to 100 million baht from Thai bank accounts this year," Suphisarn told a press conference. He said the scam was still under investigation and more arrests were anticipated.

-- Source: Agencies

2010-08-09

[Lumumba]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

[thetravellingcat]

cold holding the baby. it sounds like they were caught because the bank accounts transferred to were real people. had they used fake accounts in the middle of nowhere..

[tziqi]

yeah, shouldn't they be smart enough to transfer the money to some untraceable account?

[prakhonchai nick]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

No doubt they will get off very lightly, as seems to be the way of things in Thailand.. Punishment rarely fits the crime!

[dasy]

cold holding the baby. it sounds like they were caught because the bank accounts transferred to were real people. had they used fake accounts in the middle of nowhere..

wow thanks for the tip mate!!

[pkspeaker]

i hope they get some real time, 20yrold shits with this much education and talent can't think of anything better to do than to goto a developing country and steal the entire life savings of a female thai soldier.. was a pos!

[wyynduff]

I didn't know the army paid that well!

Who said it was her life savings?

It doesn't seem they are that bright, if they got caught and stole from the army or the police in Thailand, where is the honor?

[cusanus]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Why didn't someone tell them that they could get a legit job with a US government agency? Then you can lie, drink and steal all you want.

[anon467367354]

I'm just glad they got caught. I wonder if they are working for the Russian mafia here and it goes much deeper that what meets the front page.

Hopefully the time will fit the crime by some standard other than what seems to be the norm here. We'll have some indication if they're working for someone or alone by the sentence I'm sure.

[balo]

Why didnt they try to hide themselves from the surveillance cameras?

If you have some brain its easy to use sunglasses and caps to hide yourself.

Edited August 9, 2010 by balo

[webfact]

Two German hackers detained for stealing internet banking information

BANGKOK: -- Two German men were arrested for allegedly hacking internet banking information from a teacher, causing her the loss of Bt700,000 (about US$21,000).

Pol Col Supisan Pakdinaruenart, acting commander of the Crime Suppression Division told a news conference that the police arrested Dominik Iacono, 22, and Dave Ackermann, 23, at a house in the resort town of Pattaya after they hacked information from internet banking transactions of Col Khatthiyaporn Kamart, a lecturer at Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy.

The duo used a Trojan computer virus to steal information from the victim and transferred money from her Bangkok Bank account to an account of a Thai man they hired.

They were traced by police and were arrested after they withdrew funds from an ATM in Chonburi.

They claimed that they stole information from the victim on the Internet after they were ordered to do so by a Russian.

Police found that they had committed the crime several times since the beginning of this year, causing a loss of more than Bt100 million (about US$ 3.1 million) overall.

An official of the Bangkok Bank said that the transaction on the Internet is risky, so internet users should refrain from using the bank account which has a large amount of money in using internet banking service and should install an updated anti-computer virus programme to prevent hacking from abroad. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2010-08-09

[Chris Lawrence]

mongrels are mongrels; career criminals just starting out or have been doing it most of their lives. Got caught taking from army personal, unlucky with that. Hope they get extended holidays in the big house.

Do Thai banks need nore security on accounts?

[Catalyst]

yeah, shouldn't they be smart enough to transfer the money to some untraceable account?

Untraceable account? This is Thailand not Switzerland. They sent the money to someone else's acct but didn't account for the cameras on the ATM machines. Next time they should hide their faces at the ATM but would still probably be given up by the girls that own the accounts after the police applied a little pressure...

[HampiK]

For this i be very happy with my kasikorn account. First if you do a transaction, you will become a SMS with a code to enter. Without this code the transaction will not be accepted. So if someone will on my money in thailand, he also need to have my mobile. The OTP (One Time Passwort) which Kasikorn use i like very much, even when it is little bit more complicated to use outside thailand, if you forget to switch on roaming. You also can choose like a PIN2, but with this you aren't allowed to do everything. With OTP you can do everything what is important.. and i think it is very secure.

And if you call the service center, they ask quite a lot of questions, not same at home, where they ask you only about your birthday and then they give away almost every information.

Last time with kasikorn, they asked me about 5 question, which are very difficult to know by someone else than me.

So be aware of the security of your online banking, and not use the online banking in an internet shop. Not use an internet shop for anything important (sensitive data).

[Pib]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Why didn't someone tell them that they could get a legit job with a US government agency? Then you can lie, drink and steal all you want.

Well, actually there is long waiting list.

[Grower]

Obviously they didn't check out the conditions in a Thai prison.

[TheBarbarian]

How interesting. Either they hack or they facilitate. If it is a perceived Russian gang it is not really sensible that they were hackers. They might have been recruiting entertainers in order to use their bank accounts. Still the problem is a Thai Bank problem. No where else you see this weak security and old fashioned behaviour, except maybe for in the US where the banking industry is a mess too.

Passcodes of 4 digits always starting with 25 as they always seem to be related to the date of birth. In internet banking static security based on very old tan lists systems are used. So in a matter of fact it is just bad luck for the chaps but a typical case of som nam naa for the banks. maybe a wake up call to do something about it. The number of times that people become a victim of skimming must be uncountable. The banks give all foreigners the finger when they go there. I doubt if ordinary Thai people get a better treatment.

[NanLaew]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Offshore Langkawi at the moment.

Cheers!

[pavlik]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Just on commission. People like these are called "the drop" and usually they are the only one who get arrested.

[asiawatcher]

What only two of them? What about the Thai accomplices? What? Germans hacking for Russians and the Pattaya Police figured it out? Naaah... too easy.

[HampiK]

How interesting. Either they hack or they facilitate. If it is a perceived Russian gang it is not really sensible that they were hackers. They might have been recruiting entertainers in order to use their bank accounts. Still the problem is a Thai Bank problem. No where else you see this weak security and old fashioned behaviour, except maybe for in the US where the banking industry is a mess too.

Pass-codes of 4 digits always starting with 25 as they always seem to be related to the date of birth. In Internet banking static security based on very old tan lists systems are used. So in a matter of fact it is just bad luck for the chaps but a typical case of som nam naa for the banks. maybe a wake up call to do something about it. The number of times that people become a victim of skimming must be uncountable. The banks give all foreigners the finger when they go there. I doubt if ordinary Thai people get a better treatment.

I not know about other banks in Thailand, but Kasikorn not use a tan list. As i wrote a few post earlier they use OTP (One Time Password) which is very secure.

I'm Living in Switzerland, and think they online accounts are secure too, but most of the time if something goes wrong, the problem was the person sitting in front of the computer.

I have a big customer, and when they need to login, you can find a small paper under the keyboard or sometimes even pinned on the monitor with the password. And why this happen, because this company wants their employees to change their password every 3 month, and even for the password there are a lot of restrictions. So i guess if they would change the password so many times more people can "MAYBE" remember they password and not to wrote down....

[Stomatopod]

Since I had my identity stolen a few years back, I decided that opening any personal and company bank accounts in Thailand would mean a little more effort on my part (having to go to the bank directly for all transactions) but this, I believe, has saved me a lot of potential trouble. If a man can remove funds from an account by simply having the same name and accounts can be hacked into online, then it is worthwhile doing it in this way.

These two are definitely pawns in a much larger organisation - let's just hope that the authorities can get to the root of this.

[hardy1943]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Just on commission. People like these are called "the drop" and usually they are the only one who get arrested.

Yup.They work for the Russians and they having a hel_l of a party in Pattaya

[nbg]

For this i be very happy with my kasikorn account. First if you do a transaction, you will become a SMS with a code to enter. Without this code the transaction will not be accepted. So if someone will on my money in thailand, he also need to have my mobile. The OTP (One Time Passwort) which Kasikorn use i like very much, even when it is little bit more complicated to use outside thailand, if you forget to switch on roaming. You also can choose like a PIN2, but with this you aren't allowed to do everything. With OTP you can do everything what is important.. and i think it is very secure.

And if you call the service center, they ask quite a lot of questions, not same at home, where they ask you only about your birthday and then they give away almost every information.

Last time with kasikorn, they asked me about 5 question, which are very difficult to know by someone else than me.

So be aware of the security of your online banking, and not use the online banking in an internet shop. Not use an internet shop for anything important (sensitive data).

OTP works great when u are in Thailand, NOT when u are offshore with NO chance of getting a signal roaming or otherwise... Why dont they use the little token devices that will give you a code like many other banks. What does Bangkok Bank use?

[Puccini]

No doubt they will get off very lightly, as seems to be the way of things in Thailand.. Punishment rarely fits the crime!

Are you talking from personal experience? What crime did you commit in Thailand and what insufficient punishment did you get?

[JetsetBkk]

Why didnt they try to hide themselves from the surveillance cameras?

If you have some brain its easy to use sunglasses and caps to hide yourself.

Looks like they figured that out too late:

[prakhonchai nick]

No doubt they will get off very lightly, as seems to be the way of things in Thailand.. Punishment rarely fits the crime!

Are you talking from personal experience? What crime did you commit in Thailand and what insufficient punishment did you get?

Not sure I appreciate your comments!

My personal experience has been gained from reading the newspapers and from what I have observed in Isaan villages. Bail is given out freely, allowing many criminals to leave the country. Those that do receive jail sentences are invariably out on the loose again within a few months, (instead of the years their crime deserved) and it comes to light when they are in court once again for a new offence.

[Beetlejuice]

I do not believe these boneheads are hackers; they are just not that intelligent.

The only way I can see that this scum were able to gain access into peoples on

line bank accounts is by phishing. Meaning they send emails to individuals in

the guise of being their bank requesting bank account details, passwords and

pin mumbers. The unsuspecting a victim waiting to happen gives the information

to them.

Beware and don`t fall for these scams. Never give out your personal email address to strangers. Use seperate email addresses for diffirent purposes.

Edited August 9, 2010 by Beetlejuice

[relentless]

What a way to start life in your twenties?

Have they actually tried and failed at something legit before this?

Or they could just be on commission just for withdrawing the cash, now left cold holding the baby, while the repeat offenders are on their yacht somewhere on the Indian ocean.

Certain they will enjoy all that the Thai prisons have to offer. A grand setting just perfect for those two.