Hundreds Of IPB Students Were Entangled In Pinjol, The Money Was Used By The Suspect To Buy Cars

The woman with the initials SA is a suspect in a fictitious and loan investment case that ensnared hundreds of IPB students. (Between)

The suspect in the alleged fictitious investment and online loan (pinjol) case that ensnared hundreds of students from the Bogor Agricultural University (IPB) with the initials SA (29) bought a car from the crime money.

"The proceeds of the crime were used for personal needs, some to buy motorized vehicles and some to cover debts from previous victims," said Bogor Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Iman Iman Imanuddin during a press conference at the Bogor Police Headquarters, Cibinong, Bogor Regency, West Java, Friday 18 November.

One unit of the Suzuki brand car belonging to the suspect SA has now been confiscated by the police along with several other pieces of evidence, namely a mobile phone unit, a savings book, and an ATM card.

Iman said that SA, who was named a suspect on Thursday, November 17, was suspected of committing fraud and embezzlement under the guise of investing in 317 people, with 116 of them being IPB students. The total loss of the victims reached Rp. 2.3 billion.

Each of the victims of the fraudulent investment experienced a nominal loss of various losses, ranging from Rp. 2 million to Rp. 20 million which is now a debt on several official online loan platforms, such as Shoppe Pay Latter, Shopee Borrowing, Akulaku, and Kredivo.

SA, which has been carrying out its actions since February 2022, initially offered victims to invest in one of its online stores with the lure of dividing 10 percent of each profit.

Considering that the majority of the victims are students, SA advises the victims to apply for online loans to earn money in order to invest.

"The method is to offer business disbursement cooperation in online stores that are recognized as the owner of the suspect. It turns out that the results of the examination show that the online shop belongs to someone else," explained Iman.

The police chief explained that SA, who is not an IPB student, recruited the victim by offering it from mouth to mouth, then a presentation about investment in online stores through zoom meetings.

Until now, the Bogor Police have examined 10 witnesses and are still continuing to develop to find out whether other parties are involved in fraudulent investment cases.

"All witnesses and victims related to this will be examined. Only 10 witnesses have been examined," said Iman.