Spanish man arrested for 'ATM skimming' in Pattaya

[makkam]

Six years in jail or 100,000 baht fine is far too light for this thieving scumbag. 

While I tend to agree with your sentiments, 12 months ago this matter wouldn't have got any attention.

The police in Pattaya would have bought into the action given the money the bloke was making, in fact it wouldn't surprise me if they've been turning a blind eye for a while, but now we have some semblance of honesty around Thailand since those correct scumbags the The shinawatras were chased, there seems to be real crime detection going on

[NoshowJones]

Thanks to the EU's free movement policy my home country has been invaded by East European criminals from Romania and Bulgaria
Even in the sleepy part of the country from which I emanate shoplifting in groups of 4 or 5 has become endemic
The problem is that no political party is ruthless on law and order. The country is just sleep walking into becoming a totally crime ridden hell hole trapped between militant Islamists and imported European felons
The indigenous criminal fraternity are heartily fed up with all these aliens stealing their thunder
Hopefully the authorities in Thailand will keep us safe from the same lawlessness but I have my doubts

 

I presume it's the UK you are talking about, you want to see them in Glasgow, the last time I was there I was about to be attacked by three of them, Easterns I mean, and managed to run for it. This time I will have pepper spray with me at all times.
 

[Emster23]

 I am somewhat miffed that email notification of story uses "farang" instead of "Spanish". Perhaps not that many Spanish here, and the rest of us want to see our friends in the news? Tens of millions stolen, 100,000 baht fine? How about tens of millions fine? And five years for each million stolen? Make punishment fit the crime.

[alocacoc]

 

What I found strange is why those people are chosing Thailand....In Europe and the US any ATM machines probably hold a lot more money than here to get in a single withdraw....May the Thailand's ATM be easier to skimm?

Most often the card data is skimmed overseas and Thailand is used for withdrawals.
 

 

That's true. Nowadays it's also possible to buy credit card dumps online. Actually, very easy.

[petercool]

some troll posts deleted and one that repeated an earlier deleted post

[realenglish1]

What I found strange is why those people are chosing Thailand....In Europe and the US any ATM machines probably hold a lot more money than here to get in a single withdraw....May the Thailand's ATM be easier to skimm?

 

Your answer is simple  In Europe they use ATM cards with Chips so they cannot be copied . Here any card can be used and its a heavy tourist area so many cards from many countries without chips use ATMs here. And in the USA they have a special crime division tracking ATM fraud very fast Not In Thailand

That is the answer to your comment

 

[machesta]

This happened to me in Patong. I took some money at the ATM next to Subway, and a guy distract me before I got the receipt by saying I left 1,000 bat bill in the machine. While he gives me the bill, he has a wallet type of things that he is using to "palm" the atm receipt out of the machine. And he tells me that I have to put my card back in the machine cause I did not finish the transaction. I told the guy, a Farang, that I am done here and thanks for the 1,000 bat. 

[Khunangkaro]

At home in Thailand I have two savings accounts with bankbooks and ibanking.
One is "BUFFER" account (without atm-card), the other is "ATM" account with only some or zero baht.
My income comes in my overseas account from which I transfer any amount any time to my Thailand's "BUFFER" via ibanking overnight with low fees.

I can withdraw cash money from "BUFFER" bankbook at any branch of my bank during opening times.
Or I use my smartphone to transfer from "BUFFER" to "ATM" account any amount that I then take from any atm.

[beowolf2012]

Six years in jail or 100,000 baht fine is far too light for this thieving scumbag. 

 

not 1 or 2 there stand writhed 6 year and a fine of 100.000.00 baht.....

[sawati]

What the World is coming to??Where is the finger?? The one pointing??

[wabothai]

No deportation, Bangkok Hilton for a number of years.

[jumus]

What role do the girl in the background play?

 

She is probably the translator.

[louse1953]

Penwithcris,well said.I agree with all you say.I assume you are refering to Britain.A wonderful country that has been ruined by the most usless, incompetent politicians in history.They should hold their heads in shame.If you want to check out a website that is opposing the situation check out www.britainfirst.org or www.migrantwatch.com.You will learn a lot from the glimmer of hope these organisations have to offer.Let us hope the same thing does not happen to Thailand. How would Thais like it if they were treated like Aliens in their own country?

They are only doing what you did to them,som num nar!

[Mudcrab]

 

What I found strange is why those people are chosing Thailand....In Europe and the US any ATM machines probably hold a lot more money than here to get in a single withdraw....May the Thailand's ATM be easier to skimm?

 

Most western countries do not depend on old magnetic stripe technology as most Thailand ATM's do.  Most often the card data is skimmed overseas and Thailand is used for withdrawals.

 

Thailand is an ideal country for withdrawals, it has a lot of ATM machines and very little surveillance.  You have to be a moron to get caught in Thailand, but of course these gangs use moronic individuals to do the front line work where the real criminals never get caught.

 

If Thailand stopped using 1970's ATM technology there would be a lot less ATM fraud in Thailand.

 

Also the number of foreign tourists using ATM's could also be a factor as there is a fair chance they won't be checking their bank balance closely, and may not notice any unusual activity on their account until they return home, giving the skimmer a level of confidence he won't be caught immediately - assuming that the account hasn't been cleaned out completely!

[petercool]

a post with just quotes and no comment was removed

[peecee]

Six years in jail or 100,000 baht fine is far too light for this thieving scumbag. 

 

Fix years in a Thai nick aint no breeze!

[thesetat2013]

 Pol.Maj.Gen. Sanit placed the figure at "tens of millions baht."

For this amount of money it might be worth doing the crime and coming out of jail after a few years with so much money waiting for you. 5-6 years doesn't seem that long for so much money and so many people taken advantage of. 

[ATF]

I can't give you the link but I read recently that over 20% of registered Romanians in the UK are in Prison. 

 

On another note I find it remarkable that everyone here seems unanimous in jailing this scumbag.

 

However as soon as someone posts my GF/BF/Friend has been banged up for dealing drugs and I need to send them money and they were wrongly convicted and the prisons are so terrible. Everyone is in tears. Sorry but I just don't get it.

[LUSHGOAT]

Any money he has should be taken and given back to the victims and as another member said he should be made set up the rest of the offer him a choice execution or spill the beans and he should be banned from Thailand for life  

[kiwikeith]

Tighten the visa rules more .

I've seen these guys in pratunaam blatantly checking info and with bags of cards in a back St restaurant although I would never have said a word at the time they left in a gang of four 2 guys 2 girls with bags of cards after tipping the waitress 400 bht.

I don't know the nationality but from what I could hear it sounded Russian definitely a Slovak language.

 

[mdmayes]

Six years in jail or 100,000 baht fine is far too light for this thieving scumbag. 

"AND" 100k baht fine...

[LennyW]

 

Six years in jail or 100,000 baht fine is far too light for this thieving scumbag. 

"AND" 100k baht fine...

 

Already corrected in #8, but thanks again.

[ingvar]

Just a comment for information: It is now possible to scan smartcards (creditcards), magnetic strip cards remotely just by standing close to someone with a card in their pocket.

There are products on the market to protect against this (jammers) that is essentially a small wallet with jamming protection. Some even have an alarm when it is being scanned.

The card scimming device that the Spaniard used is apparently stone age tech already.

[robertthebruce]

Ole.....

I am sure he won't be playing his Castanets in the nick...

Terrible deed what he done, robbing innocent people...

[RTH10260]

What I found strange is why those people are chosing Thailand....In Europe and the US any ATM machines probably hold a lot more money than here to get in a single withdraw....May the Thailand's ATM be easier to skimm?

Skimming means to hijack the contents of the magnetic strip and the card code entered on the ATM keyboard. It does not mean cash retrieval. Thailand is interesting cause it has a wealth of tourists from everywhere, that may only notice loss of funds very late. And it has a plethora of different styled ATM machines, so dezecting a tampered machine is difficult, especially at night in badly lighted soys.

As for Europe, skimmed cards cannot be used there cause the current generation of cash cards contain an encrypted chip that cannot be copied by the skimming devices. The magnetic strip is not used, only maintained for card use where the chip is not implemented outside Europe. The large amount of money in the ATM does not come intp play as the daily and monthly limits are enforced world wide.

Just for the fun, my farangland bank card was skimmed in Pattaya in December 2011, only made two cash retrievals at different days. The card info must have been sold online, cause two months later when already back home, four smaller amounts of cash were taken at a shopping mall in the Philipines. The computer system recognized that unusual use and blocked the card. Was issued a new card a week later. No financial damage, total refunded after submitting the police report in farangland.

In the mean time the Maestro clearing group implemented a locking scheme that will not let the card be used outside of a freely selected list of countries. Edited July 29, 2014 by RTH10260

[mike324]

I know a chap who was caught for the same crime, he still sits in jail while waiting for bail for close to a year now, no sight of when the the trial will even begin. Last I heard the police / court wants 1 million plus just for the bail. Think twice before commiting a crime unless you have good connections, you will rot in jail while murderes who have connections don't even see the room of a jail cell.

[Beetlejuice]

 

Stolen tens of millions of baht, fine 100,000 bht ? This scumbag should have his hands removed and his eyes gouged out to make sure he never does it again, because he will, you know !

 

Looking at the bigger picture here, more billionaires where created in the last 10 years than any time in modern history, all through banking. Non did time. More recently in 2012 jamie dimon at Barcley's capital fixed the LIBOR rate and small investors lost millions. The world is in $1.5 quadrillion of derivatives debt due to bankers greed.

 

This poor guy is so desperate he's stolen from an ATM and you want gouge his eyes out? look at what the central banks did to Spain?

Stealing is wrong but I'm just saying....there has to be some proportion in the justice. This guy will go to jail but gouge his eye and chop his hands off really? 

Why is it only the poor bank robber/thieves go to jail?

 

 

Gouging his eyes out is acceptable, but I draw the line at chopping off the guy`s hands. OK, maybe just one hand is OK.

 

The old saying; 2 wrongs does not make a right.

 

Although the thieving exploits of the Spaniard may seem petty according to how we the customers are constantly being exploited and robbed by the fat cats who run the banking systems, eventually we all end up paying the price with the banks imposing more bank charges onto us for extra security and to cover the banks losses from these thefts.

 

In these cases it is a lose situation for everybody and believe in the highest penalties being dished out to this people as a deterrent and a warning to others. There can be no excuses.

 

 

[sauvagecheri]

Stolen tens of millions of baht, fine 100,000 bht ? This scumbag should have his hands removed and his eyes gouged out to make sure he never does it again, because he will, you know !

 

Are you Muslim and proponent of Sharia law ?Removing hands ! ..The law of the Talion ..
 

[maxman71]

Always check the ATM machine and look around to see if anybody is hanging around the ATM keeping an eye on it to remove the skimmer.

One should change their ATM PIN regularly, and preferable make the change at an ATM inside a bank branch.

[ehw200]

round them all up and throw away the key

with any luck thy will end themselves