By Wassayos Ngamkham
Monday, November 24 2008 01:53 PM
URL: http://www.zdnetasia.com/news/security/0,39044215,62048535,00.htm

The arrest of another credit card fraud gang last week has alerted police to the fact that they are not only fighting a regional criminal network, as they used to believe, but with connections around the world.

These professional, well-trained gangs have a network of secret contacts around the globe and use sophisticated technology and methods to escape detection by authorities, according to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

Police admit it is very difficult to track down these criminals, who have had training in how to avoid detection. It usually takes police a very long time to catch them, said DSI officer Kemachart Prakaihongmani, a member of the team which arrested five members of a gang last week.

The gang members, three Thais and two Romanians, are Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pramote Piathong, 41, Jirayos Siribawornkiat, 43, Pontagorn Deeprasert, 31, Ionut Buliarca, 28, and Robert Rotru, 29. They all had warrants issued for their arrest by the Min Buri court.

"The arrests show we're dealing with a global network which has connections in many countries. It is a cross-regional network," said Pol Col Songsak Raksaksakul, chief of the DSI's Foreign Affairs and Transnational Crime Bureau.

It took the police team one year to trace all members of this gang after receiving complaints from commercial banks in Thailand. The team started its search by checking whether the suspects had criminal records.

"We took a lot of time at this stage. But when we had the necessary information, we started our trace right away," said Pol Capt Kemachart.

His team found one suspect had contacted Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pramote, a former member of the immigration police which checks showed was involved in credit card fraud.

Pol Snr Sgt-Maj Pramote was a coordinator between Malaysian and Romanian members of the gang, Pol Capt Kemachart said.

"I was surprised the Romanians got involved because we had never had information they were into credit card fraud," he said.

Investigators discovered the credit card fraud gang had contacts in Asia and Europe. Stolen credit card data in Thailand was sold via the internet or through mobile phone text messages to Europe, while the data in Europe was sent to Thailand the same way. This cross-continental trade made it difficult for local authorities to take legal action against them because the case could not be prosecuted in Thailand, Pol Capt Kemachart said.

"It was new information for us that Europeans were involved in the trade of credit card data," he said. "The devices they use to steal the data are also sophisticated."

To get information on credit cards, the gang removed the card readers from ATMs and replaced them with similar ones called skimmers, which read the magnetic strips on the cards. Tiny cameras were also installed at the top of the ATMs to record passwords.

"Even the color of the card readers is similar to the real ones and the camera is very small and thin," Pol Capt Kemachart said.

The gang usually installed these devices at ATMs in crowded tourist spots in the Sukhumvit and Nana areas in Bangkok, as well as in Chiang Mai and Phuket provinces, he said.

This crime has already caused damage worth 50 million baht (US$1.4 million) to 500 victims, mostly Asian and Europeans. If the gang was still at large, it would have caused further damage worth worth 100 million baht (US$2.8 million) to 200 million baht (US$5.6 million) within a year, according to the DSI.

The agency will use the arrests as a start to trace other criminals in the global credit card fraud network.

"Our arrests must be followed up. Give me another six months," said Pol Capt Kemachart.

Apart from the DSI, the Economic and Cyber Crime Division is also tracking down gangs involved in credit card fraud.

On Nov. 5, the agency arrested three people--Tibadi Tiraudomkul, 55, Somchai Jirapitayanon, 42, and Tawi Kongsri, 58--who made counterfeit credit cards. Among the items seized were 25 fake credit cards, mobile phones containing credit card data and a card typing device.

The arrest followed a complaint by the New Zealand embassy on July 22. It petitioned police after its ambassador became a victim of the gang, which faked his credit cards and used them in Thailand. A gang member bought the credit card data from a Malaysian for between 8,000 baht (US$240) and 10,000 baht (US$280).

On Aug. 19, the agency also arrested Taiwanese Liang Che Chih, 33, who had 62 fake credit cards and two skimmers.

He had lived in Thailand for three years, buying credit card data from the United States and selling it in Thailand. His gang caused damage worth 100 million baht (US$2.8 million) to more than 60 banks and financial institutions.