French tourist arrested at Phuket money exchange with fake Euro bank notes

A 59-year-old French tourist was arrested at a Patong money exchange booth yesterday (Sept 2) when he attempted to exchange a fake one hundred Euro bank note. The man, named as Rene Louis Regrault, was later found to be in possession of a further five fake notes.

Police Senior Sergeant Major Boonyarit Intakarn of the tourist police told The Phuket News, “We were alerted to investigate a man exchanging money at the Shino Moneychanger booth in Bangla Rd after a member of staff there suspected that the notes he was exchanging were counterfeit.

“We took the note to a nearby bank to have it checked and they confirmed it was fake.

“When we went to check Mr Regraultʼs rented room on Sirirat Rd we found five more counterfeit bank notes. Two of them even had the same last digits as the one we seized at the exchange counter.”

Rene told police that he withdrew the notes from a bank in France before taking his trip to Thailand and had no idea they were fake.

Rene was taken to Kathu Police Station where he was charged with bringing counterfeit money into Thailand and possession of counterfeit notes with intent to use them.

Phuket News

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