Man held for fraudulent use of credit cards, accessing codes
AN online advertiser, accused of stealing information from 59 credit cards to illegally access True Money card pass-codes and responsible for causing Bt1.8 million in damage, has been arrested by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD).
The arrest came after Ayutthaya Service Sales Co filed a complaint that 59 of its credit cards had been used to retrieve pass-codes to 2,630 True Money cards, which had been sold to Thai buyers for Bt1.8 million, acting TCSD chief Pol Maj-General Norabun Nanna said.
At a police press conference, Suriyan Chaisadom confessed to the crimes and said he had not spent a dime and was ready to return the Bt1.8 million. Suriyan has been charged with fraudulent use of others’ electronic cards, and unlawfully accessing computers for protected information.
Giving details of his crimes, Suriyan said he had found online messages offering to sell stolen information from up to 20 million cards, at US$6 to $20 apiece.
He randomly bought information from this website, whose URL was not specified, and used the credit-card information to buy True Money cards before selling the cards’ pass-codes.
Norabun said the credit-card information sold on the Internet came from an international technology crime network that hacked the credit-card information from computers and smart phones through computer viruses and malware.
“I would like to warn all users to avoid using others’ computers, to not open emails from unknown senders, to not download suspicious information, and to install anti-virus programmes to prevent online intrusions,” he advised.
Meanwhile, Pol Lt-Colonel Pravit Engchuan of Phuket Police Station, said a Malaysian national, Khoo Ping Sze, 20, was arrested on Thursday on charges of possessing and using fake credit cards.
Police seized 17 fake credit cards, both Visa and Mastercard issued under her name, along with an AirAsia Airline boarding pass, and her passport.
Pravit said police were informed by a Kasikornbank investigation unit of the use of a fake Kasikonbank credit card to buy an air ticket in the Patong area on Wednesday. The ticket was brought under a woman’s name for a flight to Kuala Lumpur on AirAsia AK823 later that night at Phuket airport.
According to this information, police investigators coordinated with immigration police at the airport and successfully caught the offender at the airport.
Khoo confessed she had received the cards from friends in Malaysia and used them to buy goods in other countries such as Vietnam and Singapore, and had sent the goods back to Malaysia.