Arrested Man Used Fake Credit Cards

November 3, 2013

Pattaya police arrested an Australian man, who is part of a gang of international counterfeiters that have been using fake credit cards to withdraw cash all over Pattaya City, confessed that he received a 25% commission for his part in this large scale criminal activity.

PATTAYA – November 3, 2013 [PDN]; – At 1.30 am. Police Lieutenant Colonel Chitdecha Songhong (Inspector of Pattaya Police Station in Chonburi Province), together with police team officers and Mr. Atthawit Jutiwet, (the detective officer who inspects businesses that accept credit cards), started investigations into reports of a gang of international counterfeiters that have been using fake credit cards to withdraw cash all over Pattaya City. The police of arresting team, which worked with the administrative section for ‘the protection of fraud’ for Siam Commercial Bank were coordinated by an officer of SCB bank.

They were informed that there was a foreigner who brought the fake credit cards to withdraw cash from ATM machine in area of Pattaya City and that most of the victims were in foreign countries. The police assumed that there were the gang using counterfeit credit cards within the area of Pattaya so they inspected CCTV footage and they saw a group of foreign men, who drove a car for parking, then walking to withdraw money from many ATM machines on November 2nd, 2013. The police team investigated until they knew that a group of these foreign men stayed at the “Icon Place Hotel” in Soi Nern Plubwan in South Pattaya. They followed up to observe the behavior of the foreign men, who looked like the group of suspicious men in the CCTV footage, until identified one foreign male suspect, who was walking with a black handbag in the parking lot of the “Icon Place Hotel” so the police arrested him.

When they arrested Mr. Peter Junas, aged 42 years, of Australian nationality, he had in his possession fake electronic cards, which were entirely white in color or were various other colors. These had a magnetic stripe on the back of each card and there were 271-cards plus cash of 10,000 THB (Thai baht), so they then detained him to be investigated further at Pattaya police station.

From inspection they found that Mr. Peter Junas had been previously arrested by Pattaya City Police Station for the allegation of stealing property or receiving stolen property. After initial investigation, the defendant confessed that he did use the fake electronic cards to withdraw cash from ATM machines and also confessed that he brought the fake electronic cards from his Spanish friend aged approximately 42 years, whose nickname is ‘Iyane.’ He didn’t know his real name or surname), but he sent the withdrawn cash to Mr. Iyane and he would get 25% commission of the total amount of withdrawn cash.

Accordingly, the police charged Mr. Peter Junas (the defendant) with the allegation of counterfeiting and producing fake electronic cards and using them to withdraw cash from ATM machines. Police have detained him and impounded him with the evidence, plus he will be sent to the investigation officer for prosecution according to Thai law, in what is clearly a very large scale criminal activity.