"Not me personally, but I recently know of someone who had thousands of $$$ removed from his debit card. He had only used it at an ATM in Phuket."

Geri, this is the first I've heard of a debit card fraud through a Thai ATM machine. I wonder how the card was frauded? Doesn't somebody have to have the actual card in order to take money out? If so that means somebody stole your friend's card. The limit in Thailand for a 24hour period is 20,000Bt, so a thief would have to use the card over many days to get thousands.
I can't understand how a fraud like this could have worked with your friend. Can anybody explain this to me? I'm worried now.