PHUKET: A Chinese man has told Phuket police that he and two friends have been ''skimmer scammed'' of about one million baht at a Phuket ATM.
Officers say other tourists may also have lost money. The thefts are likely to affect the confidence of Chinese tourists in Phuket as a safe destination.
Sun Haohao, 33, and his friends went to Phuket City police after taking a call from his bank to ask if he was in Russia because the equivalent of 400,000 baht had been withdrawn there from his account.
His friends reported they too had been hit by the scammers. The warning call came from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of China's big four banks.
The tourists and police have focused their attention on an SCB Bank ATM at the Premium Outlet retail mall on Phuket's bypass road, a popular spot with Chinese visitors.
Investigators believe Russian scammers installed a skimming device at the machine that recorded the IDs and passwords of users and gave them easy access to the accounts of the Chinese and other users.
Officers say other tourists may also have lost money. The thefts are likely to affect the confidence of Chinese tourists in Phuket as a safe destination.
Sun Haohao, 33, and his friends went to Phuket City police after taking a call from his bank to ask if he was in Russia because the equivalent of 400,000 baht had been withdrawn there from his account.
His friends reported they too had been hit by the scammers. The warning call came from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, one of China's big four banks.
The tourists and police have focused their attention on an SCB Bank ATM at the Premium Outlet retail mall on Phuket's bypass road, a popular spot with Chinese visitors.
Investigators believe Russian scammers installed a skimming device at the machine that recorded the IDs and passwords of users and gave them easy access to the accounts of the Chinese and other users.
win for high value tourism.
Posted by bill on March 30, 2014 10:09