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Indonesia, Taiwan to investigate scam in Batam
Perfect strangers: Police arrest 58 people they believe are from Taiwan on suspicion of cybercrime
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Perfect strangers: Police arrest 58 people they believe are from Taiwan on suspicion of cybercrime. The suspects, who speak neither English nor Indonesian, were rounded up from two rented houses where the police also seized scores of computers connected to fixed telephone lines.(JP/Fadli) (JP/Fadli)
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span class="inline inline-center">Perfect strangers: Police arrest 58 people they believe are from Taiwan on suspicion of cybercrime. The suspects, who speak neither English nor Indonesian, were rounded up from two rented houses where the police also seized scores of computers connected to fixed telephone lines.(JP/Fadli)
The Riau Islands Police said on Friday that they would work with Taiwanese authorities to investigate fraud cases that have allegedly involved dozens of Taiwanese citizens who have recently been arrested by local police in Batam.
On Thursday, the Riau Islands Police arrested 58 Taiwanese citizens from two upscale housing estates in Batam for allegedly perpetrating fraud against people in Taiwan and China.
As many as 20 people were arrested at a house on the Crown Hill Estate while the remaining 38 were arrested at another house on the Palm Spring Estate. Of the 58 people arrested, 52 were men and the remaining six were women.
The foreigners, according to the police, ran their scam by contacting their prospective victims over the phone. They later persuaded or threatened the victims in order to make them transfer a certain amount of money.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post on Friday, the Riau Islands Police's general crimes director, Sr. Comr. Adi Karya Tobing, said the police had learned about the case from information reported by local residents who observed suspicious activities at the two houses.
'We received the report last week and immediately conducted surveillance. We finally managed to make a arrests on Thursday afternoon,' he said, adding that the police had also found a list of 2,000 names of prospective victims during the arrest.
To follow up on the case, the Riau Islands Police, according to Adi, contacted Col. Jay Lee, a Taiwanese Interpol officer in Jakarta, to provide assistance.
Taiwanese authorities, he added, would further investigate the scam network in Taiwan, as the Taiwanese citizens under arrest had been only used as telephone operators and could be considered victims of human trafficking.
'From the legal angle in Indonesia, they have violated the Immigration Law. We will hand them to the immigration authorities so that they can be deported,' he said.
Speaking to reporters at the crime scene on the Palm Spring Estate, Col. Lee said at least 10 similar cases were taking place in several cities in Indonesia, including on Bali and in Semarang and Jakarta. Taiwanese authorities, he added, are giving serious attention to the cases.
Separately, Batam Immigration Office's enforcement and supervision affairs head Rafli said the 58 Taiwanese citizens had used three types of visas to enter Batam, namely visas issued by the Indonesian Embassy in Beijing, visa on arrival and free tourist visas.
'We saw nothing suspicious when they entered Batam. However, we were not aware if their activities were in accordance with their visas,' he said.
