A Ukrainian man alleged to be the mastermind behind a multi-million dollar computer software piracy racket has been captured in Thailand.

Maksym Vysochansky, 25, who was arrested in Bangkok Monday evening, allegedly sold US$ 3 million worth of computer software, "resulting in damage worth up to $1 billion to the US software industry", Bangkok paper The Nation (http://www.nationmultimedia.com/page.news.php3?clid=2&theme=A&usrsess=1&id=14340) reports.

Vysochansky, compared by The Nation to Frank W Abagnale Jr from the film Catch Me If You Can (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0264464), is on the US Secret Service's most-wanted list, the paper reports.

"This guy was on the US Secret Service's 10 most wanted list. He's definitely a big shot," a US embassy spokesman told AFP, describing Vysochansky as a "kingpin" of international computer crime.

Unlike various currency counterfeiters (http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/wanted_campodomico.shtml) and credit card fraudsters (http://www.ustreas.gov/usss/wanted_cabral.shtml), Vysochansky appears nowhere on the US Secret Service Web site. Nor is he on the FBI's ten most wanted list (http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm).

Surely the US authorities aren't trying to inflate Vysochansky's position in order to pressure the Thai authorities into a swift extradition? Heaven forbid.

Vysochansky has been sent to the Bangkok Remand Prison pending further legal proceedings. ®

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