Ministry Of Foreign Affairs Monitors Victims Of TIP Returning To Work In Online Scams Companies

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is observing the findings of a number of victims of the crime of trafficking in persons (TPPO) who have been repatriated to the country, but returned to go abroad to work in online fraud companies (online scams).

The Director of Protection for Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Judha Nugraha, revealed that of the many TIP cases handled, not all Indonesian citizens who were sent back to Indonesia were victims.

Some actually work in the sector but want to get a 'free return' facility by claiming to be victims. "So we note that there are Indonesian citizens who we have sent home but are back (out of country) and working in the same type of work... for example handled by the Indonesian Embassy in Vientiane," Judha said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 30.

Meanwhile, in handling the TIP case in the Philippines, which was the result of a local police raid with foreign representatives in the country, it was found that the 242 Indonesian citizens involved and rescued were not all victims but also the perpetrators and distributors.

According to Judha, the problem in handling cross-border TIPs is the role of actors who are often not prosecuted so they cannot be banned.

"The problem is they are not criminals, so they cannot be denied," he said.

For this reason, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs encourages victims and families of TIP victims to report cases so that they can be followed up legally by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Police, as recently done in Bekasi, West Java.

Judha said the arrests and investigations of the two suspects who recruited 16 of the 25 TIP victims in Myanmar were the result of information development from the victim's family.

"We hope this becomes a pattern, for the families of the victims who complain that their family members are victims of online scams, they are also responsible for reporting their cases to the police so that the parties departing from Indonesia can be prosecuted," he said.

In addition, Indonesia also encourages law enforcement in destination countries such as Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand to curb online scams.

Based on data from the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, TIP cases increased significantly from 361 cases in 2021 to 752 cases in 2022. In addition to the increasing number, the profile of destination countries where many cases of TIP related to online scams were also increasingly diverse, especially in Southeast Asia.