C.F Frost 
A 36-year-old Chinese man has been arrested in Bangkok on charges of using counterfeit credit cards. Feng Yi Sheng was arrested at the Lumpini Place condominium on Rama IX Road on Friday.
The arrest followed a complaint from a bank about the suspected use of counterfeit credit cards at locations on Chaeng Watthana Road in Nonthaburi province.
Police found 60 credit cards in the suspect’s room. The bank that filed the complaint initially that 28 of the seized cards contained illegally obtained data of other Chinese cardholders.
Police also found a credit card skimmer and a laptop computer in the room.
Pol Col Padol said the suspect confessed to the crime and that investigators were also looking for accomplices.
In a separate arrest, Bangkok police also arrested an Indonesian couple for alleged credit card fraud.
32 year old Alexander Eddilias and 33 year old Estie Rusdiana, were found in possession of fake credit cards, stolen credit cards, and credit card skimmer used to steal credit card information.
The arrest comes after several banks notified police of transactions made using fake credit cards. The couple were tracked to a room in the Pratunam area of Bangkok.Officers also seized a computer; a skimming device; twenty two fake credit cards; two stolen credit cards; and twenty four credit receipts.
The suspects say they bought the information on the Dark Web. The information was then recorded in the magnetic strip of the fake cards. The fake credit cards were also used to make purchases worth approximately 2 million baht.
Identity Theft in Asia
In Thailand, barely a week goes by without a gang of ATM skimmers being busted with cloned cards.
The problem of identity theft in Asia is on the rise — and it doesn’t only target travelers. Residents in many Asian countries listed identity theft as one of their top fears, even higher on the list of concerns than terrorism.
There’s never a good time to become a victim. But travelers have much more difficulty sorting out compromised credit cards or stolen identities while away from home. Making international calls and recovering compromised accounts is stress you don’t need on a trip. Minimizing your risk exposure is the key to prevention.
Although completely eliminating the risk of identity theft in Asia would require traveling in very inconvenient ways (e.g., carrying all cash, not using the internet, etc), a little vigilance goes a long way toward increasing protection.
