Swedish, Filipino ATM skimmers nabbed in Chiang Mai

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET: Police have arrested two ATM skimmer suspects – a Swedish man and a Filipino – in Chiang Mai along with 500 fake electronic cards.

Following a tip-off by a bank about someone using fake ATM cards to withdraw cash from its machines, Swedish national Per Johan Robin Bentley, 29, and Filipino national Matin Philip Javellana Magno, 31 were arrested at a mall on Sunday.

The pair were carrying fake cards. Hundreds more were found in their hotel room along with card-making and card-swiping machines and two eyeglass cameras modified so they could be attached to ATM machines.

Provincial Police Region 5 deputy chief Maj-General Tanitsak Teerasawat said police suspected the duo’s network had stolen at least Bt10 million and they were looking for accomplices.

Bentley and Magno confessed and said they had skimmed in South Korea and the Philippines but were not arrested, Tanitsak said.

— Phuket Gazette Editors