Russian Held in Thailand Over Credit Card Fraud

Russian Held in Thailand Over Credit Card Fraud

BANGKOK, July 11, 2013 (RIA Novosti) – The Thai police have detained a Russian national on suspicion of involvement in credit card fraud, a local police officer said on Thursday.

“The suspect [Sergei Afanasyev, born in 1962] arrived in Thailand last Saturday and managed to conduct operations with fake credit cards at least six times before he was detained,” said Police Col. Suebsak Phansura.

The Thai police claim Afanasyev is a member of an international credit card forgery gang. When the suspect was detained at a hotel in Bangkok’s Sukhumvit business and tourist center, the police found 129 forged credit cards from various European banks and a credit card skimming device in his room, Phansura said.

“When he was detained, he had only 500 baht [$16] in cash, from which we concluded that he had managed to transfer or give the other money withdrawn from machines to his accomplices,” Phansura said.

Card forgers often withdraw cash from credit cards through cash machines or make expensive purchases on credit cards by forging the card holder’s signature, Phansura said.

A criminal case will soon be opened against the suspect, he added.