Polresta Yogyakarta Uncovers International Love Scamming Syndicate Disguised as Labor Provider

JAKARTA - The Yogyakarta City Police have dismantled an alleged international network of love scamming or romance scams operating in Sleman Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region.

The Head of the Yogyakarta Police, Kombes Eva Guna Pandia, explained that the fraud practice was uncovered after a hand-in-hand operation at the PT Altair Trans Service office on Jalan Gito Gati, Ngaglik District, Sleman Regency, on Monday (5/1) at 13.00 WIB.

"The office is suspected of being used as a place for alleged acts of pidanalove scamming," said Pandia at a press conference at the Yogyakarta Police Headquarters, Wednesday, January 7, reported by ANTARA.

From the results of the examination, six suspects were determined, each of whom had the initials R (35) as the CEO or owner of the company, H (33) as HRD, P (28) and M (28) as project managers, and V (28) and G (22) as team leaders.

Altair Trans Service Yogyakarta Branch, said Pandia, is known to be a company that operates in the field of providing labor according to the request of the client or application owner from China.

According to Pandia, in its operation, the fraud used an online dating application which is a clone application of a Chinese origin application called WOW.

The company's employees were employed as chat administrators who played the role of women in accordance with the victim's or user's country of origin.

They persuaded users of the application to be willing to buy coins or top up to send gifs available in the application.

"Its use is foreign nationals from several countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia," said Pandia.

When the user sends a gift, they then send content gradually in the form of pornographic photos and videos.

"To access the photos and videos, the user or victim must send a gift with a certain amount," said Pandia.

From the company, the police seized four surveillance cameras (CCTV), duarouterWiFi, 30 mobile phones, and 50 laptops that were allegedly used as means of criminal acts and in them were found various photos and videos containing pornography.

In addition to evidence, continued Pandia, 64 employees were also secured to undergo further examination at the Yogyakarta Police.

From the results of the examination, the investigators then named six people as suspects.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Yogyakarta Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Police Commissioner Riski Adrian, added that the practice had been going on for almost a year.

In each shift, the admins are targeted to collect at least two million coins per month.

"If calculated, per shift can generate more than IDR 10 billion per month, and in its operation they are divided into three shifts," said Adrian.

Adrian said the monthly income of the owner of PT Altair Trans Service also came from employee salary deductions, with a value of around IDR 750 thousand from each employee per month.

He said the total number of employees of the company reached 160 to 200 people, while those who were secured during the hand-in-hand operation were 64 people.

The Yogyakarta Police are coordinating with the National Police's International Relations Division and Interpol to trace and hunt down the service tenants or clients of PT Altair Trans Service who are suspected to be abroad.

"Dozens of company employees who are currently still in the status of witnesses continue to be investigated," said Adrian.

For their actions, the suspects were charged with a number of articles, including Article 407 or Article 492 of the Criminal Code as regulated in Law Number 1 of 2023, juncto Article 20 and Article 21 of the Criminal Code, as well as provisions in the Information and Electronic Transaction Law and the Pornography Law with a minimum sentence of six months and a maximum of 10 years in prison.