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The men being questioned at Tourist Police headquarters today

Phuket Pair Accused of Skimming Info at Phuket ATM

Monday, November 5, 2012
PHUKET: Two European men were arrested early today as they placed a skimmer unit on an ATM at a bank outlet popular with Phuket visitors, Tourist Police said.

The men, both from Bulgaria, appeared intent on stealing vital information from people as they used their credit cards at the ATM, according to the Tourist Police.

However, thanks to the officers at the Kasikorn Bank outlet in Karon, near Patak Road, who had previously noted some technical issue with the ATM, police staked out the ATM overnight.

At 2am, police saw the two Bulgarians place a skimmer device on the keypad.

When the men were followed on their motorcycle back to their apartment, investigators found other equipment that indicated the pair were up to no good.

The men - Tervel Dimitrov, 31, and Stenkov Ancho Haritonov, 33 - were not talking to the Tourist Police or the media today at Tourist Police headquarters in Phuket City.

Comments

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Book'em Khun Danno!

Posted by GiantFan on November 5, 2012 11:34

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Hat off to the police men !

Posted by cekipa on November 5, 2012 12:08

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I hope they will spent so many years in "Bangkok Hilton" that they can speak fluently Thai and have grey hairs when they come out. Then blacklist them for ever and return Home Country.

Posted by PhuketGreed on November 5, 2012 12:31

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If both are found guilty and have to serve time, it would be interesting to hear what jail time they have to serve for this sort of crime.
Well done that policeman.

Posted by Rod on November 5, 2012 13:18

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Slightly off topic, but would it be possible to post a picture of what such a skimmer device looks like? They were attaching one to the keypad. In other similar stories, I believe some have attached a false card slot? It would be nice to know what these attachments look like, so as to not fall prey to a similar scam. Thanks.

Posted by concerned in karon on November 5, 2012 15:23

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I suspect they came to Thailand as they thought Thailand would be easy to rob as opposed to Europe. At 2am the Police saw the two men place the skimmer and found more evidence at the accused criminals residence, plus they are not speaking to the Police, plus they are hiding their faces in the photos. If they are not guilty then pigs can fly. Night time robbery in Thailand carries a two year jail sentence and as this occured at night this should be the mininum sentence. I have read it is very tough to get you money back from local banks and especially bad for the tourists as they might be the other side of the world from their home country. Utter rubbish people like this trying to benefit themselves on the misery and often life changing events they cause to others.

Posted by Happy Farang on November 5, 2012 16:11

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@concerned in karon.
Just 'Google' ATM card skimmer'. There's about 396,000 pages of photos and videos :-)

Posted by Big Bernie on November 5, 2012 18:32

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With the growing influx it is only a matter of time before the really heavy criminals start working. They take one look at Phuket, see the taxi scam, jet-ski scam and realise it is as corrupt as at home. They will love it, start their own scams, bars, night clubs, drugs, bring in their own hookers and so on.
In the foreseeable future there will be gang wars, murders, public shootings and whatever. Just take a look at Pattaya, where it has already started.

Posted by Remarkable on November 5, 2012 20:19

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The last people to get caught doing this were a pair from England, The Dad got 18 years and the Son got 4 years....GOOD LUCK LADS ! Ha Ha

Posted by terry on November 5, 2012 21:48

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They will pardon these two on the grounds that they teach them how this is done.

Posted by Tyrone on November 6, 2012 02:34

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1 young Norwegian boy gets 18 years in jail in Bangkok for skimming 36 cards in Pattaya, GOOD.

Posted by Norwegian Farang on November 6, 2012 06:31

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The more severe the sentence the better to set an example to other would be wrongdoers.

Posted by Rod on November 6, 2012 07:19

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Well done that policeman.

Posted by Rod on November 5, 2012 13:18

WELL DONE K-BANK.

Posted by sunny on November 6, 2012 08:48

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Terry and Norwegian Farang where did you hear about these very long sentences? What they did was bad but 18 years seems very harsh.

Posted by Happy Farang on November 6, 2012 12:59

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Oh my good god, That is the sentence of a murderer in my country, a young mans life ripped from him because of theft, Ido not condone nor am supporting anyone but seriously, 18 years for a stealing offence, I am not saying their government are wrong but would hope they by now have taken that number down to a sensible 1-5 years, dependent upon, nothing else involved and that they repay all monies taken, plus monies in damages to all parties, the amount taken is not really the issue, its that they stole something that did not belong to them and should be sentenced accordingly, some of these kids are having their life taken from them in a foreign country, no family support, nothing, just strange people and no hope, what is then their course, am very dissapointed in a system that has in the last 20 years made so many giant steps.

just an oppinion

Posted by Mark on July 24, 2015 00:50

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Hi Ed

As you know there were two convicted card-skimmers who appeared in chains in courtroom 4 of the Phuket Provincial Court prior to the commencement of the Phuketwan trial.

The prisoners claimed that they were arrested with three other men who had been involved in skimming. They further claimed that they took no part in the crimes of the other three.

I was told in court that each of the five men had received jail terms of 50 years. I thought that was quite incredible and wondered whether they actually received sentences of 10 years each as 5x10 years = 50 years.

Maybe Ed you can enlighten us?

Cheers

Posted by Ian Yarwood on July 24, 2015 10:27

Editor Comment:

All of it is hearsay. Local news organisations on Phuket seldom cover court cases, despite the interest in just outcomes. Checking on the facts in the skimmer case without names becomes an extremely difficult task.


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