Pattaya —
On July 8th, 2024, Pattaya police arrested a Russian national for using a counterfeit 500 euro note to exchange for Thai Baht at a money exchange booth in Pattaya.
The incident came to light after a money exchange booth employee notified Pattaya police about a Thai man attempting to exchange a counterfeit 500 euro note at the booth on Soi Pratumnak 5 on July 8th. The booth employee realized that the note was fake and immediately alerted the authorities at the Dongtan Police Station.
Police went to the booth and launched a search to find the Thai man. They were quickly able to track him down to a hotel on Soi Pratumnak 5. The Thai man was identified by police only as 41-year-old Mr. Hassphon, and surprisingly it was found that the man works as a receptionist at the hotel. Mr. Hassphon confessed to receiving the counterfeit note from a Russian guest staying at the hotel but claimed that he did not know the money was fake and strongly denied he was the accomplice of the guest.
Mr. Hassphon claimed that the Russian guest who had been staying at the hotel on a daily basis had accumulated overdue room charges for over three weeks. When asked for payment, the guest eventually handed a 500 euro note to Mr. Hassphon to exchange for Thai money to pay for the room charges. Mr. Hassphon then exchanged the euros at the exchange booth, without realizing that the money was fake and that he might also be held accountable.
38-year-old Ms. Kornpassorn, the manager of the currency exchange booth, revealed that her staff did not initially closely check the money because Mr. Hassphon was Thai. Mr. Hassphon received 19,012 baht for the exchange.
Pattaya police then proceeded to the hotel room of the Russian guest, identified as Mr. Abdulhakim Khasanov, 29. Upon searching the room, police discovered 5 more counterfeit 500 euro notes and 80 counterfeit 50 euro notes, totaling 6,500 euros, or around 253,500 Thai baht. Mr. Khasanov was also on overstay of his visa, although the amount of days overstayed was not released by law enforcement.
During interrogation, Mr. Khasanov reportedly admitted to owning the counterfeit money.
Mr. Khasanov and Mr. Hassphon were taken to Chonburi Immigration Office where Mr. Khasanov was charged with overstaying his visa and possession of counterfeit foreign currency. Pattaya police are currently investigating if Mr. Hassphon was involved in the foreigner’s scheme or if he was simply duped by the foreigner.
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