Metro Police Arrest Extortion Syndicate Of IDR 100 Million Retas Mode Instagram Account

Polda Metro Jaya Headquarters (VOI)

JAKARTA - Polda Metro Jaya arrested extortion and threats syndicates that used the mode of hacking social media accounts. The perpetrators extorted hundreds of millions.

"Arrested the suspect in the alleged criminal act of threats and extortion through electronic media," said Director of Special Criminal Investigation at the Metro Jaya Police, Kombes Ade Safri Simanjuntak in his statement, Monday, August 14.

The perpetrators had the initials A (21) and MRP (19). They were arrested in the South Sulawesi region, on Wednesday, August 9.

The disclosure of this extortion case began when the victim with the initials TAPL received a message from the suspect MRP through the WhatsApp application, on August 4, 2023.

"Initially, I sent a WhatsApp message to the victim, where did the contents of the message go approximately 'to-hack, right?'," he said.

Shortly thereafter, the suspect MRP contacted the victim and offered to help restore the hacked Instagram account.

However, there are conditions that must be met by the victim. He was asked to pay Rp. 10 million.

At that time, the victim agreed. In fact, he sent Rp12.5 million or more than the perpetrator asked for.

However, the victim was threatened again. MRP said it would spread the victim's data and information.

"Asked to be transferred back to the victim in the amount of Rp. 100 million, but the victim objected and then reported it to the police," said Ade Safri.

The victim who objected to the request decided to report the extortion. The report is registered with the report number LP/B/4578/VIII/2023/SPKT/POLDA METRO JAYA.

Based on the report, the police then conducted an investigation until they finally arrested the two suspects in the South Sulawesi area.

"Suspect A plays a role in providing an account to accommodate the proceeds of the crime," said Ade.

With the arrest of the two suspects, they are charged with Article 27 paragraph (4) in conjunction with Article 45 paragraph (4) and or Article 29 in conjunction with Article 45 B and l or Article 30 in conjunction with Article 46 and or Article 32 in conjunction with Article 48 and or Article 35 in conjunction with Article 51 paragraph (1) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions.