Two Indonesian Citizens Create Fake Websites, Steal American Personal Data To Get COVID-19 Fund Assistance

JAKARTA - The East Java Regional Police have arrested two suspects who created and spread the scam page of the United States Government (US) which was used to steal the citizen's data.

East Java Regional Police Chief Inspector General Nico Afinta said the two suspects were Indonesian citizens, namely the initials SFR and MZM, who had committed three crimes.

"There were three criminal acts. First, the perpetrator created a fake website, second, spread this fake page, and the third, took other people's data illegally", he said as quoted by Antara, Friday, April 16.

The mode used by the suspect is to send an SMS blast for US citizens to click on the link. After being clicked, the deceived residents then filled in their identities.

"The number of fake pages made is 14. Then spread via SMS and spread using software or SMS blasts. After receiving the SMS blast, some people are deceived and some are not. Those who have tricked are the ones who open the page link and fill in the data", said Inspector General Nico.

From the activities carried out from May 2020 to March 2021, the suspects spread this fake domain to 27 million telephone numbers of US citizens and were deceiving around 30 thousand people spread across 14 US states.

Of this false data, he said, it was used to get COVID-19 pandemic assistance from the United States Government.

"The suspect made filling in the data to take some money. Those who filled in the data and were deceived are most US citizens. These are people who were deceived to fill in data on COVID-19 assistance, if appropriate, they will receive 2.000 US dollars", he also said.

The East Java Regional Police are working with the FBI through the Indonesian Police Headquarters International Affairs Division (DivHubinter) to handle this case.

"This is the first time we have uncovered interstate crimes in COVID-19. We are working with the US Police to follow up so that legal construction can be completed", said the former South Kalimantan Police Chief.

In this case, continued Inspector General Nico, the police secured pieces of evidence, ranging from laptops, cellphones to several ATM cards belonging to the suspect.

For his actions, the suspect was charged under Article 35 in conjunction with Article 51 paragraph (1) of Law No. 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code and Article 32 paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 48 paragraph (2) of Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.