A Gang Of Fraudsters Impersonating Foreign Tourists Offers Investment And Then Drains ATM Contents Arrested

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BOGOR - Bogor City Police arrested a gang of fraudsters under the guise of foreign tourists who offered investment but instead stole the victim's money through an automated teller machine (ATM).

Head of Bogor City Police, Kombes Susatyo Purnomo Condro, said that the gang of fraudsters arrested by members of the Bogor City Police Satreskrim consisted of four people, namely Adi Santoso, Joko, Bimo, and Usman.

"They are operating to look for potential victims, namely tourists who stay at five-star hotels around the SSA (one-way system), namely the road that surrounds the Bogor Botanical Gardens," he said, quoted by Antara, Saturday, September 25.

Susatyo explained that the main modus operandi of this conspiratorial group was to claim to be a foreign tourist with a Brunei Darussalam Malay accent and to seek business partners for investment.

The four conspirators have their respective duties and roles in deceiving potential victims. Adi Santoso, plays the role of the one looking for potential victims.

Joko acts as a foreign tourist with an accent through Brunei Darussalam and in his action he exchanges the victim's ATM. Then, Bimo and Usman acted as drivers and also helped find potential victims.

According to the police chief, Adi is tasked with finding potential victims and his targets are tourists staying at five-star hotels on the main road around the Bogor Botanical Gardens, who are estimated to have a lot of money.

"Adi's job is to get acquainted with hotel guests, and trace the profiles of his acquaintances who will become potential victims," he said.

Then, Joko comes, who plays the role of a foreign tourist from a neighboring country, pretending to ask if he wants to go to an ATM somewhere.

Joko also said he wanted to invest. Adi and the potential victims who had been talked to, together took Joko to the ATM.

Joko offered investment to potential victims by showing a number of foreign bank ATMs to convince potential victims.

After the victim was convinced, Joko exchanged his ATM with the victim's ATM.

"This gang then stole the victim's money from his ATM after previously memorizing the victim's ATM pin number," he said.

According to Susatyo, from the statements made by the suspects during the investigation, the gang has managed to deceive five victims in the past year by collecting around Rp500 million in cash.

"Every victim who is cheated, no loss is below Rp 100 million," he said.

From the gang, the police also confiscated 118 ATM cards of national and foreign banks, money in rupiah and US dollars, as well as vehicles used to cheat.

The group of fraudsters is suspected of being under Article 378 of the Criminal Code, concerning fraud with a maximum prison sentence of four years.