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Man jailed in casino credit scam

Thursday, July 8, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

Metro Police arrested a man last week who allegedly used counterfeit credit cards to steal thousands of dollars from local casinos.

Sayavong Viengsay, a Laotian national, was a member of a California-based criminal group who came to Las Vegas with the counterfeit credit cards to steal cash advances from casinos, police said. Several casinos were bilked out of more than $40,000 in two days. None of the stolen money was recovered.

An alert hotel cashier noticed a customer repeatedly using a credit card to obtain cash advances and grew suspicious when examining the credit cards, police said.

Security officers detained the suspect, identified as Viengsay, and called Metro's financial crimes detectives. A detective said the credit cards were the highest-quality counterfeit credit cards he had ever seen.

Other members of Viengsay's group have left Las Vegas, but have been identified with the help of casino video surveillance, police said.

Police said the group obtained authentic credit card account numbers and placed them on credit cards that they manufactured.

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