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Customs and excise office caution against lure of cheap goods as Idul Fitri approaches
As the Idul Fitri festivities approach, Indonesians begin to shop for staple goods, snacks, clothes and even jewelry.
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s the Idul Fitri festivities approach, Indonesians begin to shop for staple goods, snacks, clothes and even jewelry. However, this euphoric atmosphere is also fraught with dangers, including scams and fraud. Recently, there has been an increase in cases where scammers carry out online shopping schemes under the guise of government agencies, such as the Customs and Excise Directorate General.
The office has urged the public to take caution when shopping online. In addition, customers are also advised to be more selective in choosing online shops to help minimize fraud. This can be done by shopping at trusted e-commerce sites or verified merchants with clean transaction records.
It also warned customers to be wary of products sold at unusually low prices, as the tactic is commonly used by fraudsters as the first step to luring potential victims. After the transaction has taken place, criminals will ask for additional money, saying that the goods were detained by customs. The victims are often threatened by fraudsters who claim to be customs officials demanding that they transfer the additional charges to a personal bank account.
The customs and excise office’s subdirectorate head of public relations and customs counseling, Hatta Wardhana, stressed that such steps were a strong indication of fraud. Customs and excise officials never ask for remittances to be sent to a personal account because payments for state revenue always use billing codes.
“In the context of importing consigned goods, customs and excise never directly contacts buyers to collect import duties and taxes. We also want to remind consumers that we only check shipments of goods from abroad and free trade zones,” Hatta added.
By March, the contact center and social media channels belonging to the Customs and Excise Directorate General reported 657 fraud complaints, a 26 percent increase from the previous month.
“Fraud via online shops was common in March with 316 new cases, which is quite high when compared to the previous month when there were only 271 cases, so around a 17 percent increase,” said Hatta.
“The breakdown revealed that 358 cases, or 54 percent, were categorized as material fraud while the other 299 complaints fell under non-material fraud. Cases of material fraud often cause great harm to victims but both types of cases saw a hike in March, respectively by 43 percent and 10 percent from the previous month.”
“So far, the customs and excise office has succeeded in thwarting material losses that amount to Rp 2.51 billion [US$174,900]. As long as they are careful when making purchases, customers will be able to avoid material losses due to fraud.”
Before making a transaction, make sure that the terms and clearance process forconsigned goods by customs on beacukai.go.id/faq/barang-kiriman.html are well understood. If you receive information that goods purchased from abroad are being held at customs, immediately ask for a receipt number and check the shipment status at beacukai.go.id/barangkiriman. If the seller cannot show a receipt number, it can be ascertained that you are dealing with fraud.
The customs and excise office can also be contacted through its contact center at Bravo Bea Cukai at 1500225 or via email to info@customs.go.id. You can also send your report through its Facebook fan pages at facebook.com/beacukaiRI and facebook.com/bravobeacukai, as well as @BeaCukaiRI and @BravoBeaCukai on Twitter, and @BeaCukaiRI on Instagram.
