Yevhen Hrytsenko, 27, and Iurii Korobchenko, 31
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CHIANG MAI – Ukrainian Nationals, Yevhen Hrytsenko, 27, and Iurii Korobchenko, 31, were arrested for using more than 130 fake ATM cards to steal about 10 million baht from ATMs across the province.
The two Ukrainians were captured at a hotel on Chang Kian Road on Sunday and brought to a news conference today.
Pol Col Weerayuth Prasobchokchai, chief of Muang Chiang Mai police station, told the Bangkok Post and other reporters that the police were informed by the Crime Investigation Division Provincial Police Region 5 that two foreigners were using counterfeit bank cards to withdraw money from a Bank of Ayudhya machine on Chang Klan Road.
The two men were arrested when they were leaving their hotel, carrying a suitcase that contained a netbook, a card scanning machine, 138 ATM cards, flight tickets from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and 100,000 baht in cash
During the arrest, police confiscated 138 forged electronic cards, 100,000 baht case, a notebook computer, a credit card scanner and two plane tickets for a flight departing Suvarnabhumi airport.
An initial investigation found the duo used electronic cards encoded with information from banks in European countries to steal 10 million baht from ATMs belonging to various banks in the tourist spots across the town.
Officers believe they are part of a larger ATM card-skimming gang and are examining whether the suspects had produced the forged cards in Thailand, or in a foreign country before their arrival to Thailand.
Pol Col Weerayuth said, police were making slow progress in the investigation because the Ukrainians did not cooperate and only spoke Russian to them.