Online Arisan Fraud Case In Trenggalek Stopped With Restorative Justice, Perpetrators Promise To Return Hundreds Of Millions Of Victims' Money

PHOTO VIA BETWEEN

TRENGGALEK - The Trenggalek Police, East Java, implemented the concept of restorative justice in solving a fraud case under the guise of online social gathering after the reported party agreed to return the complainants' money.

"The application of this restorative justice is also based on the agreement of the disputing parties, mediated by the police," said Head of the Trenggalek Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Iptu Agus Salim, quoted by Antara, Thursday, April 28.

With the peace agreement through a restorative justice approach, the alleged fraud case under the guise of online social gathering was declared closed. The victims have also withdrawn the report on the condition that the perpetrators return the capital that has been sent to the complainant.

"There has been a reconciliation from both parties based on a letter of agreement of peace and revocation of the report. The rights of the reporter and the responsibility of the reported party have been fulfilled, (the reported party) admits his actions, apologizes, promises not to repeat it, and returns the complainant's money," he said.

Agus Salim said that the reported party EK stated that they were able to return the money belonging to the complainants amounting to Rp202.7 million. In this case, there were four women in Trenggalek who were victims of the alleged fraud under the guise of online social gathering.

"There were four victims of Trenggalek residents. The victims' losses ranged from Rp. 202.7 million," he added.

The case began when EK uploaded an online social gathering invitation on social media in 2017. In that upload, EK, who is a resident of Bumi Menak Sopal, offered online social gathering and investment. EK's upload on social media attracted four victims/rapporteurs.

There was interaction and communication. The victims were also willing to participate in online social gathering activities so that EK formed a conversation group on the WhatsApp application.

"After being included in the WhatsApp group, the perpetrator offered the witnesses to participate in online investment by promising to return the capital," explained Agus Salim.

Initially, the social gathering and online investment activities went smoothly. The number of members participated by mothers with various backgrounds is increasing.

However, only a year has passed, the online social gathering initiated by EK went bankrupt because it was suspected that many members did not deposit their money. Because the victims' money was not returned, the legal process was taken.

"Including the witnesses' money, the perpetrators did not return the money," he said.

The police sought restorative justice in resolving the case, so that in the end both parties agreed to hold a deliberation on the condition that the reported party returns the arisan capital and online investment.

"We solved this case through restorative justice after all the elements of the requirements were met. In the study conducted through the case title as well as analysis and evaluation, we ensured that all the requirements had been met, so we concluded that the case could be terminated through restorative justice," he said.