Three Malaysian tourists have been arrested on suspicion of using counterfeit credit cards while shopping at the Platinum department store in Bangkok.
Police were called to the tourist-packed mall on Monday evening after a shop owner became suspicious when the men bought many items using eight credit cards, Metropolitan Police Division 1 deputy chief Pol Col Nakharin Sukhonthawit said Tuesday.
The suspects, later identified as Alan Yeo Kee Boon, 32, Fong Yip Coong, 24, and Toh Kian How, 30, were held by the mall's security guards until the police arrived.
The officers, who later searched their apartment in the Soi Nana area, also said they found seven more fake credit cards.
The three Malaysians arrived in Thailand on Sunday. According to investigators, it was their first trip to Thailand.
The suspects allegedly admitted to police they owned all the cards but remained tight-lipped about any connections with an electronic card skimmer gang.
Skimmer gangs secretly place skimmers inside ATM booths to sneak personal and financial information from card holders. The details are then used to make unauthorised cards.
This crime continues to cause damage despite crackdowns, Pol Col Nakharin warned.
"So salespeople at department stores must stay alert," he said.
They must immediately inform police when unusual payments via credit cards are made, Pol Col Nakharin added.
In this case, the officers pressed initial charges against the three suspects of forging the cards and using them to buy items illegally. It is not known how much in sales they had managed to rack up.
