Bali Police Reveals Fraud Syndicate In The Mode Of Selling Cheap Cellphones

PHOTO: Dafi-VOI

The Bali Regional Police's Special Criminal Investigation Directorate uncovered a syndicate of online fraud networks with the sale of cheap cellphones or cell phones from the Java-Bali network.

The Head of Public Relations of the Bali Police, Kombes Jansen Avitus Panjaitan in Denpasar, Tuesday, said five people were arrested in the case, namely AKP(39), MS(32), AJ(32), Muz(23), and a minor with the initials ABH.

"The modus operandi of the crimes committed by the suspects is by creating a fake Instagram account that resembles the Instagram account belonging to the original store, then making a post of sales and promos at a low price," said Jansen, Tuesday, June 11.

In addition, said Jansen, in carrying out the action the perpetrators created an account with a name that resembled the name of the cellphone shop listed so that the potential victim felt interested and made a purchase through a fake account made by the suspect.

The fake accounts created are Instagram social media accounts of several mobile phone stores in Bali and outside Bali. Apart from the perpetrators, there are two people who are still fugitives from the police, namely P and R.

The evidence was confiscated from the suspects in the form of 23 savings books from various banks, 14 NPWP cards with various names, 10 ID cards with various names, two SIM cards, 39 ATM cards, two BNI tokens, 18 units of various brands of mobile phones, and cash amounting to Rp25 million.

Deputy Director of Special Criminal Investigation of the Bali Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner of Police Dian Chandra Ranefli, added that the disclosure of the syndicate began on April 19, 2024, where there was a fraud case on Dalung Permai Street, North Kuta District, Badung Regency, which happened to the victim Ida Bagus Gede Adi Wirawan.

Initially, the victim saw videoreels uploads from the Instagram account @taraphone store which promoted the sale of the Iphone 12 Pro Max cellphone at a low price. The interested victim also transferred the money to the account given by the perpetrator.

However, after making the transaction, the items purchased by the victim were never received, so the victim went to the Taraphone Shop directly at the address in Dalung to confirm.

It was there that it was discovered based on the information of one of the employees of the Taraphone Shop that the Instagram account @taraphone store was not an official account belonging to the Taraphone Shop. The victim then reported this to the Bali Police.

The Bali Police then conducted an investigation by profiling the BNI account transferred by the victim on behalf of PT Berkah Bersama Tarashop. Then, Friday, May 31, 2024, a suspect AKP in Uma Residence, Pemogaan, Denpasar has been arrested.

Ranefli explained that based on the suspect AKP's statement, he was asked several times by someone with the initials P to make an account to commit fraud with a fee of Rp. 1 million per month.

After that, based on information from the suspect, the Bali Police Ditreskrimsus ranks conducted an investigation into a person with the initials P who is known to be in Sidenreng Rappang Regency (Sidrap), South Sulawesi. P is the boss of the fraud syndicate.

Based on the results of the investigation, it was found that one of the groups of subordinates of a person with the initials P was in a house located in Pancariang District, Sidrap Regency, South Sulawesi.

After being arrested and interrogated, said Ranefli, it was found that the evidence from the alleged online fraud was stored in a wooden house located in the Sererang Village Plantation, Sidenreng Rappang Regency (Sidrap).

After a search, evidence was found in the form of cellphones as many as 13 units of mobile phones of various brands used to commit criminal acts of online fraud.

The suspects were charged with Article 28 paragraph 1 Jo. Article 45A paragraph 1 of Law Number 1 of 2024 concerning the second Amendment to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions, Article 378 concerning Criminal Acts of Fraud and Article 55 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

"Meanwhile, the perpetrators of children are still waiting for assistance from the Denpasar Fathers for further questioning," he said.

In this case, the police suspect that many people have become victims of the syndicate's crimes, but have not reported them.