Credit card fraud at Bangkok Onsen spa led to Thai woman’s arrest

BANGKOK: A Thai woman was arrested on Wednesday (Jan 8) for allegedly working with another Thai woman and a Chinese man to steal credit cards from customers of an onsen spa in Bangkok and use them to make fraudulent purchases.

Police obtained arrest warrants for the three and on Wednesday morning arrested 22-year-old Thanchanok (name withheld) in her apartment room in Vadhana district.

The remaining suspects, identified only by the initials “Nor” and “Aor”, are believed to have fled the country last week.

The investigation began after the victim reported that her credit cards she used for purchases worth 300,000 baht were stolen.

The case was also highlighted by popular Facebook page Mor Lab Panda, which posted an alert on Sunday saying that several customers of an onsen spa in the Thong Lor area had been victims of similar thefts, with the stolen cards being used to purchase goods. worth hundreds of thousands of baht

On Tuesday, another woman told a TV station that her credit card kept in a locker at the same onsen was stolen and she then spent more than 100,000 baht at a nearby cafe.

The cafe owner claimed the card was processed using a borrowed electronic data capture (EDC) device, but failed to disclose the identity of the borrower, which later invalidated the transaction.

The victim, who filed a complaint at Thong Lor Police Station, revealed that three of his credit cards were stolen and kept in his locker for just an hour. The cards were later used to withdraw 343,000 baht.

Following the complaint, police worked with banks to trace the owner of the EDC machine and subsequently traced and arrested Thanchanok.

Thanchanok reportedly admitted to providing EDC devices to the other two suspects, who used a smart card purchased online to bypass the onsen hotel’s wristband system to gain access to lockers and steal credit cards.

Thanchanok then worked with the owners of the EDC machines, instructing them to give her the stolen funds, keeping 10% as her share and the rest going to Nor and Aora. – Nation/ANN