Filipinos arrested over fake credit card

KATHU: Police on Monday arrested four men and a woman from the Philippines for using a fake credit card to buy expensive goods from a mobile phone shop in Patong.

Pol Col Chalit Thinthanee, Superintendent of Kathu Police Station, told a press conference yesterday that the Filipinos were arrested at 11:55 pm at Ploy Telecom on Sainamyen Rd after shopowner Patchar Budtayotee called police.

The men arrested were named by police as Jody Dabanoot, 31, Patric Camichel, 25, Anchato Veetusio, 18, and Benje Loyd Clustillio, 23. The woman was named as Iris Ontanis, 22.

Col Chalit said the five went to the shop and bought two mobile phones, a DVD player and three mobile phone account top-up cards, together worth 57,184 baht.

However, K. Patchar did not have the mobile phones in stock, and asked them to return later to collect them.

Dabanoot offered to pay for the goods with a Visa credit card. But, Col Chalit said, K. Patchar was suspicious of the combination of the looks of the five Filipinos, the fact that they were attempting to pay with a Visa card, and the fact that they did not haggle over the prices of the expensive goods.

She called the Credit Card Center of the Thai Military Bank, which issued her shop with a credit card transaction machine, and was told that the card number was genuine and was issued by a bank in the US – but not CitiBank, as was indicated on the card presented by the Filipinos.

“K. Patchar then called the police at 9:45 pm. Undercover police went to her shop and arrested three of them when they returned to collect the mobile phones,” Col Chalit said

Col Chalit said that Ontanis claimed to have bought the fake card in Bangkok for 6,000 baht.

All five were charged with six counts of fraud. If found guilty, they face up to three years in jail, or a fine of up to 6,000 baht, or both, on each count.