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80 alleged scammers face deportation to China
The Chinese government has officially requested the Jakarta Police’s assistance in deporting the alleged scammers back to China, the police said.
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Police have arrested a total of 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians in Jakarta and Malang, East Java, for allegedly running a fraud scheme targeting people in mainland China. (JP/Dionnasius Aditya)
T
he Jakarta Police special investigation unit has delivered 80 Chinese nationals accused of running a fraud scheme to the Law and Human Rights Ministry’s Immigration Directorate General for possible deportation.
After the arrest of 85 alleged Chinese scammers earlier this week, an investigation found that only 80 people were believed to be involved in the fraud scheme that targeted people in mainland China, Jakarta Police special crime unit director Sr. Comr. Iwan Kurniawan said.
"The results of the investigation show that only 80 people were involved in the online scam syndicate. These people have been escorted to the Immigration Directorate General for further processing," Iwan said on Thursday as quoted by Antara.
He said the five other Chinese nationals had been released. They were initially suspected by the police because their communication devices had been hacked.
The Chinese government has officially requested the Jakarta Police’s assistance in deporting the alleged scammers to China, Iwan said.
"We have received a request from the Chinese government and the Chinese embassy to help arrest the scammers since the victims are mostly people in mainland China,” he said.
Police personnel arrested the alleged scammers on Monday during raids at six different locations in Greater Jakarta and another location in Malang, East Java.
85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians were apprehended. The six Indonesians were later released.
The suspects, who entered Indonesia on travel visas, are accused of being part of an international cybercrime syndicate that possibly also operates in Malaysia.
According to the police, they allegedly scammed people in China by pretending to be authority figures, like police officers, prosecutors or bankers, and claiming they were able to sort out problems relating to the police, courts or banks in exchange for money.
However, after the victims transferred the money to bank accounts located in mainland China, they were never contacted again.
Jakarta Police chief, Ir. Gen. Gatot Eddy Pramono said the suspects had made about Rp 36 billion (US$ 2.5 million) from their victims.
Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr Comr.Yusri Yunus said the police tracked the suspects using their computer IP addresses.
"The suspects had established a network in mainland China. We tracked them using their IP addresses. They chose Indonesia as a place to do their crimes because they were already being pursued by Chinese law enforcement," Yusri said on Tuesday as reported by Kompas.com.
From the Malang and Jakarta raids, the police confiscated numerous pieces of evidence, including 192 mobile phones and 39 SIM cards.
Iwan explained that the Jakarta police would be ready to cooperate with Chinese law enforcement to help solve the case, including delivering the six Indonesians as witnesses. (nal)
