Uncover Love Scamming in Semarang, Director General of Immigration Emphasizes Commitment to Tighten Selection of Foreign Nationals

The Semarang Immigration Office together with the Central Java Directorate General of Immigration Regional Office secured 4 Chinese WNA suspected of being a love scamming network. ANTARA.

JAKARTA - The Directorate General of Immigration ensures that it will continue to tighten supervision of all foreign nationals (WNA) who are in the country. This step is taken as a form of real commitment in implementing selective policies (selective policy) which is the main foundation for immigration supervision in Indonesia.

Director General (Dirjen) of Immigration, Hendarsam Marantoko, stated that the success of his team in dismantling the international love scamming network in Semarang was a concrete proof of the enforcement of the rules. This case is also a strong signal that Indonesia is not a safe place for cross-border cyber criminals.

"Immigration will not provide space for foreign nationals who abuse residence permits or use Indonesian territory as a base for illegal activities," Hendarsam said in a statement in Jakarta.

This immigration surveillance operation was held by the Semarang Immigration Office together with the Central Java Immigration Directorate General Office in the Puri Anjasmoro area, West Semarang. During the raid, officers managed to secure four Chinese nationals with initials HJ (40), HK (44), HY (44), and TW (37).

In addition to foreign nationals, officers also secured two Indonesian citizens (WNI) with initials DS (26) and E (26) to be questioned further to investigate the extent of their roles and involvement in illegal activities at the location.

From the results of the search, officers seized electronic evidence in a very fantastic amount. Among them are 604 units of mobile phones of various brands, 11 units of portable computers, 10 units of all-in-one (AIO) computers, as well as hundreds of SIM cards and travel documents which are currently being analyzed in depth.

"Immigration supervision will continue to be strengthened to maintain security, order, and state sovereignty," said Hendarsam.

Based on the interim examination, the perpetrators are suspected of carrying out this online romance fraud through digital communication platforms such as Ding Talk and DingDing. Their modus is to build emotional relationships using fake profiles before finally draining the victim's finances. Uniquely, the results of the investigation show that all victims and targets targeted by this network are outside the territory of Indonesia.

Currently, the four foreigners are still undergoing intensive examinations. They are threatened with Article 122 letter a of Law Number 6 of 2011 concerning Immigration regarding the misuse of residence permits. In fact, one of the foreigners who was caught not being able to show valid travel documents was also targeted by Article 119 of the same law.