A Russian national has been arrested and charged for the use of counterfeit credit cards at a pharmacy and several other locations on the southern island of Koh Samui.
The arrested followed an alert sent to local police by a bank employee who noticed some irregularities in the transactions on several occasions over the past few days.
Pol Col Prawit Engchuan, Superintendent of the Surat Thai police, said that the man was caught on Koh Samui pier, reportedly heading for Phuket.
Upon arrest, police discovered a total of 12 credit cards, eight of which were counterfeit. They also found a card reading device in the man’s car.
The 35-year-old claimed that the credit cards belonged to him, his wife, and other cardholders. He also informed police that the card reading device belongs to a friend who he identified as “Atom.”
However, police were not convinced by his story and found that he had used the credit cards to purchase products at Banjo Pharmacy on June 14th and 15th, in addition to other locations across Koh Samui.
Vadim Valeev was arrested and handed over to police at Don Sak, pending further investigation.
He has initially been charged with the possession of counterfeit electronic cards.
Source: Bangkok Post
