Former Salemba Prisoner Arrested By Bali Police For Stealing Data Of 1,293 Credit Cards To Sell Hotel Tickets

The carding perpetrators arrested by the Bali/ANTARA/Rolandus Nampu Police

The Bali Regional Police's Special Criminal Investigation Directorate arrested the perpetrators of theft of 1,293 credit card data from another person (carding) named MA (41) from Jakarta to buy hotel tickets to planes at low prices.

"The modus operandi is that the perpetrators as users of credit card data belonging to other people purchased on the dark web and used to order or purchase hotel vouchers, plane tickets through the Airbinb or booking.com application and applications on Apple's App Store which are not their rights," said Head of Public Relations of the Bali Police, Kombes Jansen Avitus Panjaitan in Denpasar, Bali, as reported by ANTARA, Friday, July 28.

Jansen explained that the disclosure of the case, commonly called carding, began on Monday, July 11, 2023.

At that time, the Bali Police Cyber Crime Team conducted a Cyber Patrol and found an Instagram social media account on behalf of Ratdiba_ which promoted hotel or villa bookings and plane tickets with the words "AlI Hotel & Villa disc 30-50%" aka prices below the market.

After a search was carried out, the Instagram social media account in the name of Ratdiba allegedly belonged to a woman named RN, MA's girlfriend. On Tuesday, July 12, 2023, RN and MA were found at the Bali Gallery Mall, Jalan Bypass Ngurah Rai, Kuta, Badung.

During interrogation, Jansen said, RN said he only helped his girlfriend MA to advertise hotel or villa bookings and plane tickets, but the person concerned did not know where the voucher was obtained.

According to the MA, the vouchers were obtained from promos on various travel agents.

Feeling that there were irregularities in the testimony of the Supreme Court, the Bali Police Cyber Team checked the Macbook laptop belonging to the Supreme Court and it was found that 1,293 credit card data belonging to other people from various banks both at home and abroad had been hacked by the Supreme Court suspect.

"The confession of the Supreme Court, 1,293 credit card data was obtained by buying on the Dark Web website, with an average price per USD credit card data, which was paid using Crypto Currency," said Jansen, who was accompanied by the Deputy Director of Crimes at the Bali Police AKBP Renefli Dian Candra and the Head of Sub-Directorate of Cyber Ditreskrimsus Pokda Bali AKBP Nanang Prihasmoko.

According to MA's confession, the other people's credit cards were used to buy hotel vouchers and plane tickets at a cheaper price to the people looking for reading the promoted web.

And to get cash quickly, the vouchers were then resold by the Supreme Court at a discount price of 30 to 50 percent through the Airbnb application or booking.com and the App on Apple's App Store.

The evidence that was secured from the suspect was an Apple laptop, Apple cellphone, iPhone 11, iPhone 14, several dark web accounts, BCA Mobile to a mini Cooper car.

Currently, the Supreme Court suspect is being held at the Bali Police Detention Center and charged with Article 32 paragraph (1) in conjunction with Article 48 paragraph (1) of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Electronic Information and Transactions with a threat of eight years in prison.

The Bali Police appealed to the public to use credit cards to be careful in transactions and for safety to check regularly with the official bank that issued the credit card.

"If there is a suspicious transaction outside of knowledge, please report to the Sub-Directorate of Cyber Ditreskrimsus of the Bali Police," said the former Denpasar Police Chief.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director of the Bali Police's Ditreskrimsus AKBP Renefli Dian Candra said the Supreme Court was a recidivist who had just been released from prison in April 2023.

Ranefli said the Supreme Court was recorded twice in prison for being involved in a theft case in Bali handled by the Kuta Police and a drug case until it was thrown in the Salemba Detention Center.

To investigators, the Supreme Court admitted to learning the cyber crime from a friend of a fellow convict in a drug case.

"After we investigated, he got it from one of his colleagues at the Salemba Rutan, his colleague has been transferred to Nusa Kambangan. The person concerned admits that he is still trying. So not all data can be purchased, some are invalid too," said Ranefli.

Until now, said Ranefli, investigators are still investigating the total loss because the perpetrator admitted that he had never calculated the income from the job of stealing credit card data.

The former Tabanan Police Chief said the man from Jakarta who was already married was arrested with his girlfriend after three days on vacation in Bali using the money from his actions.

"We have examined the woman, her status is still a witness because she admits that she doesn't know only as an online travel agent who sells the plane ticket voucher and tickets," said Ranefli.