Believe! Five Characters Of Fraud In The Name Of Customs And Excise Ahead Of New Year's Holidays

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Finance)

The Directorate General of Customs and Excise at the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) informed that during the year-end holiday period there is a potential for increased acts of fraud on behalf of Customs and Excise. This is because at this moment the level of consumption tends to increase along with the high mobility of the community.

Head of the Sub-Directorate for Public Relations and Customs Counseling, Hatta Wardhana, revealed that fraud on behalf of Customs and Excise can be recognized with five characteristics.

"First, generally fraud occurs before the weekend or national holidays because at this time banks and government offices are closed, making it difficult for victims to confirm," he said in a written statement quoted on Tuesday, December 27.

Second, there are illegal levies for online transactions, namely the value of the tax charged is not proportional to the value of the goods. Third, the fraudster contacted the victim using a personal phone number, the majority used uniformed profile photos and used a business account.

Fourth, the perpetrator intimidated the victim with the threat of imprisonment and fines if he did not comply with the perpetrator's request. Fifth, the perpetrator asked for a number of payments aimed at personal accounts.

"People must understand this so that there are no more victims such as a woman from Surabaya with the initials L who claims to be a victim of fraud on behalf of Customs through a telephone information channel who lost Rp37 million," he said.

Hatta specifically appealed to the public not to hesitate to contact Customs and Excise through communication channels such as contact centers at 1500225 and official social media Customs.

"If you have been deceived, the victim can report to the police for the fraud incident he experienced and ask for evidence of his report. Furthermore, armed with evidence of the police report, the victim can apply for a blocking of the account used by the perpetrator," he said.

For information, in the November 2022 period, there were 618 complaints sent through the Customs and Excise information channel.

Berdasarkan seluruh total pengaduan, sebanyak 426 pengaduan atau setara 68,9 persen merupakan penipuan material dengan jumlah kerugian yang dialami korban mencapai Rp967 juta dan sisanya sebanyak 192 pengaduan atau setara 31.1 persen merupakan penipuan nonmaterial.

"We thank the people who helped campaign for fraud on behalf of Customs and Excise," concluded Hatta.