75 Students In Lampung Tricked By Cheap Boarding Houses, Profits Of Up To IDR 200 Million

Illustration of the perpetrator of the crime was arrested (ANTARA)

LAMPUNG - A man in Lampung made a profit of up to Rp 200 million after deceiving 75 female students with cheap boarding mode. The fraud mode carried out by the perpetrators is to offer a rental room or boarding house at a low rate to the victims.

The boarding fee that has been paid by the victims is not deposited with the owner of the boarding house, but is used by the perpetrator for personal gain.

Aria Putra Djayanegara, a resident of Sukarame Subdistrict, Bandar Lampung, the man's name, was arrested by the police after committing a criminal act of fraud or embezzlement.

This 43-year-old man cheated and embezzled money belonging to dozens of female students from State Universities (PTN) in the Sukarame area, Bandar Lampung.

The fraud committed by the perpetrator was revealed after one of the victims reported to the Sukarame Police, Bandar Lampung on Tuesday.

From the reports of the victims, the police conducted a series of investigations and managed to arrest the perpetrators after being on the run for a month.

The perpetrator was arrested by the police at an inn located in Sukamaju Village, Teluk Betung Timur District, Bandar Lampung on Sunday, October 13.

From the results of the examination, the modus operandi of the perpetrators offered cheap boarding houses to female students through social media. To the victims, the perpetrators offered a boarding house at a rental rate of Rp. 7 million per year.

The victims believed in the perpetrators because they met directly with the perpetrators at the boarding house offered. The victim who believes transfers the rent directly for 1 year.

Head of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Bandar Lampung Police, Muhammad Hendrik Aprilianto, said that the victims had occupied the boarding house for three months. However, when the victims returned to their hometowns and returned to their boarding houses, they were surprised that their boarding house had been occupied by someone else.

"The boarding house rented by the victims turned out to be only paid two to three months by the perpetrator to the boarding house owner, not one year like the initial agreement," said Hendrik in his statement, Wednesday, October 16.

Hendrik explained that the number of female students who were victims of fraud reached 75 people and the total loss of the victims reached Rp 200 million.

"The victims of this fraudulent practice are mostly new female students from the area outside Bandar Lampung who are looking for a boarding house," said Hendrik.

In the case of the cheap boarding house fraud committed by the perpetrators, the police confiscated evidence in the form of cellphones belonging to the perpetrators, proof of transfer, and evidence of receipts for the handover of the boarding house rentals.

The perpetrator who has been named a suspect is currently being held at the Bandar Lampung Police. The perpetrator was charged with Article 378 of the Criminal Code and/or Article 372 of the Criminal Code on Fraud and/or Embezzlement with a maximum prison sentence of 4 years.