East Kalimantan Police Arrest Hacker Group 323 Instagram Accounts, Ask For Ransom Of Millions Of Rupiah

BALIKPAPAN - Polda East Kalimantan (Kaltim) arrested a gang suspected of hacking 323 Instagram accounts over the past seven months, including accounts belonging to the General Election Commission (KPU) Metro Lampung.

"The suspects blackmailed the victim by asking for a ransom between Rp. 500 thousand to Rp. 5 million so that their Instagram account was returned. The nominal varies, depending on the number of followers of the account," said Head of Sub-Directorate of Cyber Ditreskrimsus Polda Kaltim Kompol Ariansyah as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, March 4.

Four perpetrators, namely AL (27), MDI (24), AP (19), and MFA (24), were arrested at a hotel in Balikpapan on Tuesday (25/2).

Kompol Ariansyah said the four suspects were estimated to have earned IDR 400 million to IDR 500 million since the first time they took action. The hundreds of millions of money was obtained from the victims who paid the ransom so that the Instagram account could return.

This gang uses the modus operandi of fishing attacks, where AP is tasked with finding targets by collecting around 50 Instagram accounts per day, especially accounts with more than 5,000 followers.

MDI and MFA then send links via direct message (DM), offering free blue ticks. Victims who click on the link and fill out a fake form will lose control of their account.

The Navy plays a role in taking over accounts by changing email, password, phone number, and other information. In addition, he also made fraudulent posts on hacked accounts. AP also acts as admin of WhatsApp that serves ransom requests and responds to questions related to fraud.

The proceeds of crimes they commit are used for daily needs, holidays, and online gambling.

"We received a report from the Lampung Metro KPU about three weeks ago," said Ariansyah.

Other accounts targeted by this gang include coffee shops, wedding organizers, makeup artists, beauty clinics, mobile phone service stores, food and beverage sellers, property agents, schools, Islamic boarding schools, media, vehicle rentals, and job vacancy information providers.

In fact, a doctor in Jakarta became a victim after buying a cellphone from a coffee shop account that turned out to have been hacked, and suffered a loss of IDR 5 million.

"In East Kalimantan, the suspects were also recorded to have carried out a number of hacks. We continue to monitor and develop this case," said Ariansyah.