Samarinda Residents Lose IDR 900 Million, Fooled By Cheap Cooking Oil Prices In Free Shipping Mode, Rice And Sugar Bonuses

A number of victims of cooking oil fraud. ANTARA

SAMARINDA - Dozens of residents of Samarinda, East Kalimantan, have become victims of the fraud of cheap cooking oil at a price of Rp. 150,000 per box by the perpetrator with the initials FA (31).

"At the beginning, the price was Rp. 170 thousand per box, then it became Rp. 150 thousand and was promised free shipping (Ongkir), bonus rice and sugar. From there I immediately ordered a lot," said one victim named Citra in Samarinda quoted by Antara, Tuesday. , February 8th.

One of the victims along with their legal counsel went to the Samarinda Police to make a report on the alleged fraud case. Citra explained that the FA initially offered cooking oil for personal use.

However, knowing the price of cooking oil is skyrocketing and scarce, he also orders in large quantities and invites his colleagues. When asked for an explanation about the delivery, the FA often reasoned with various reasons that the cooking oil ordered could not be sent.

Not wanting to give up, Citra also tried to get her order by visiting the warehouse on Jalan Batuah Samarinda, which the FA called the location for storing cooking oil. However, when they arrived at the location, the so-called warehouse never existed.

"I was told to go there myself, when I checked, it wasn't a warehouse, but a coal employee's dorm," he said.

At the same place, the victim's legal representative, Dyah Lestari, said that initially the victims ordered 5,000 boxes in November 2021. The transaction was not a problem. Furthermore, the victims ordered back as many as 7,000 boxes. However, they only received 900 boxes.

"The victims felt cheated by the FA who claimed to have acquaintances with the boss of the cooking oil distributor because they had transferred a total of Rp. 900 million. However, what they ordered did not come," he said.

The victims finally reported the case to FKPM Pelita, then asked for mediation. However, the reported party cannot be held responsible for his actions. "The police investigators said that the reported party had surrendered yesterday. We were asked to make a report so we could follow up," he said.

The case is now being handled by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Samarinda Police and is still in the stage of examining the complainant and collecting evidence.