Law catches up with alleged foreign skimmers in Phuket

PHUKET: Three alleged ATM skimmers were arrested in Chalong on Saturday night after police tracked them down using the GPS signal from a stolen iPad.

Brazilians Lucidio Firmino Da Silva Junior, 24, and Juan Pablo Da Costa Varao, 21, along with 26-year-old French national Phellipe Andre Dias, were apprehended in their rental room in Chalong. The arrests followed Koh Tao Police informing local officers that a tourist’s stolen iPad had been taken from the east coast tourist island to Phuket.

“We followed the GPS signal of the iPad to a rental room near the HomePro in Chalong. However, there was no one there at the time, so we waited nearby until the men came back,” explained Lt Col Somkid Boonrat of the Phuket Provincial Police.

Inside the room, officers found three ATM skimming devices, a laptop with customer card information, three ATM cards, the stolen iPad and two iPhones.

The three men were charged for electronic card fraud, as well as theft.

The men denied all charges, but admitted to bringing the skimming equipment from Brazil to Thailand.

— Kritsada Mueanhawong