2 Malaysians Nabbed For Credit Card Fraud In Bangkok

Thursday for credit card fraud in the latest incident involving Malaysians.

Hua Mark district police chief Vatana Ejin said the suspects, aged 31 and 33, reportedly told police they were part of a group headed by a China national who was detained by police last week.

The man's five accomplices were also picked up.

Vatana said the duo were nabbed after a commercial bank reported that they used fake credit cards to carry out transactions at several shopping complexes here.

"Following information from the public, we traced one of them shopping at a mall in Ramkamheang area and another one in Ekkamai," he told a press conference Friday.

According to Vatana, the duo told investigators that the China national had given them fake credit cards and fake passports to go shopping for expensive items like mobile phones, electrical products, whisky and cigarettes.

Prior to their arrest, one of them was shopping for a mobile phone worth 11,900 baht (about RM1,200) while his colleague was buying some products worth 50,000 baht (about RM5,000).

Vatana said the duo had continued their activities even after the arrest of their accomplices, adding that investigations revealed each group member received a five per cent commission from the total value of the products they had bought.

Last year and early this year, several Malaysians were arrested by Thai police for using fake credit cards to buy goods at popular shopping malls in the capital.

In one case, a Malaysian was caught stealing credit card information from a local bank here.

In April, three Malaysians, including a woman, were charged in a Thai court for using forged credit cards to buy air tickets to Athens, Greece and Kuala Lumpur.

Due to the rampant credit card cases involving Malaysians, banks have tightened procedures, including asking Thailand-based Malaysian businessmen to change their credit cards upon returning from their homeland.