Classical Vespa Sweet Promise Ends In Power: Dozens Of Victims, Billions Of Rupiah Floating

Classic Vespa Motor Illustration/ Photo: Ekin P Bitor

BEKASI Dream of having a 1978 classic Vespa with a tilted price turned into a nightmare for ANP, a man who is now on the long list of victims of alleged classic scooter buying and selling fraud. Not only him, dozens to dozens of other people are suspected of experiencing something similar to losses that are estimated at billions of rupiah.

This case emerged after ANP reported a seller with the initials AWP to the Bekasi City Metro Police. The seller promised a 1978 Vespa unit for IDR 25 million, complete with a STNK.

The offer was submitted through WhatsApp persuasively, until finally ANP was tempted and transferred money to the bank account given by the perpetrator.

"After the money was received by the perpetrator, the victim hoped to get the vehicle unit. But apparently, the unit promised never existed and the victim never got the money back," explained the Head of the Sub Division of Penmas Polda Metro Jaya, AKBP Reonald Simanjuntak, Friday, August 1, 2025.

According to Reonald, the victim has included evidence of conversations and proof of transfers in the report currently being processed by investigators. He added that the development of this case will continue to be monitored and reported to the public.

Meanwhile, Head of Public Relations of the Bekasi Metro Police, AKP Suparyono, said that the first report came in on Saturday, July 19.

Interestingly, this case is suspected to be not a single incident. An upload from the @bekasi.terkini Instagram account states that 63 victims from various regions in Indonesia were deceived by a similar mode. The perpetrator is said to be the owner of a Vespa workshop located on Jalan Cipendawa, Rawalumbu, Bekasi City.

"It is strongly suspected that this is not just a personal fraud, but it already resembles a mass fraud scheme with a potential loss of billions of rupiah," the account wrote.

Although the investigation is still ongoing, this case highlights how large the public's interest in classical vehicles is and how easy it is to buy trust with the lure of nostalgic prices. The public is advised to be more vigilant in online transactions, especially collection items whose value is high and easy to exploit by fraudsters.