A bungling Uzbek tourist was arrested for allegedly exchanging fake banknotes worth 3,000 USD of at a money changer in Thailand.

Iskandarkhuja Farkhodkhuj Akbarkhujaev, 31, reportedly swapped the counterfeit cash for 80,000 baht at a shop in 'Sin City' Pattaya, on April 25.

However, eagle-eyed employees later noticed that the gold numbers on the bills did not change to green when tilted as they would on genuine currency. They called the police to file a report and submitted the suspect's identification documents to help track him down.

Officers raided Iskandarkhuja's hotel room to detain him later that day.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Arut Saphanont, deputy chief of investigation of the local police, said: 'After receiving the report, police acted quickly because the case involved a foreign suspect who was being a public nuisance.

'We arrested him on the second floor of the hotel, where two currency exchange slips and a shoulder bag full of US dollar bills were found.'

During interrogation, the holidaymaker allegedly admitted that he had taken the sham money with him from Turkey to fund his tropical vacation.

Police Colonel Anek Sarathongyu, superintendent of the Pattaya City Police Station, said: 'We urge business operators, especially money exchange services, to immediately notify the police if they believe they have been scammed by the same offender. If anyone has clues about the suspect's activities, please alert nearby officers immediately. Authorities are on duty 24 hours a day.'

Former fishing village Pattaya became popular with American troops on 'rest and relaxation' breaks in the 1950s and 1960s when the U.S. military had bases in Thailand while fighting Communism in Vietnam. Rural families are said to have even dressed their sons as women to cash in on the gold rush.

The handful of bars in the coastal town quickly grew and it is now the world's biggest sex holiday destination, with round-the-clock prostitution and drugs - a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah rife with crime and debauchery.

Government chiefs have attempted to clean up the city but regular violence, crime, depravity and claims of corruption continue to blight its reputation.