Indonesia arrests 88 Chinese nationals over romance-related scams

Indonesia arrested at least 88 Chinese nationals over their alleged involvement in cross-border online romance scams, said the police after receiving a tip from the Chinese security ministry.

As per the police, the suspects, including five women, were part of a telephone scam and online love fraud cartel.

Riau Islands police spokesperson Zahwani Pandra Arsyad said that the suspects were operating from a shophouse, a building with mixed commercial and residential use, located in an industrial park.

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Primarily, they were targeting fellow Chinese nationals, who as per the reports, were called over the internet and tricked into transferring money. A probe into the matter revealed that the gang had been carrying out such operations since early this year, trapping dozens of victims in China. It is not yet clear as to how much money they have accumulated since then.

“We are still investigating this case, including whether there are any Indonesians among the victims,” Arsyad said, adding that none of the suspects can speak or write the Indonesian language. “If there are none, we would deport all of them immediately.”

Arsyad said that the members of the cartel had come from China to Indonesia for three months at a time since January this year, and were committing crimes from Indonesia as China had clamped down on their networks.

He then added that the Indonesian police are working closely with immigration officials and China’s Ministry of Public Security in dealing with the suspects.

In the year 2019, the US Federal Trade Commission announced that romance-related fraudulent activities were the ones behind generating more losses than any other consumer scams reported to the agency. In a statement, it had said that in such scams criminals usually trap victims online, via either a dating site or social media.

In a report released on Wednesday (August 30), the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the criminal gangs have compelled dozens of people in Southeast Asia into participating in illicit online scams, including false romantic ploys, bogus investment pitches and illegal gambling schemes.

It cited “credible sources” that at least 120,000 people in strife-torn Myanmar and roughly 100,000 in Cambodia “may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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