Student prosecuted for cyber crime<\/p>\n
Asip Agus Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
Petrus Pangkur, a 22-year-old student at Sanata Dharma University
\nin Yogyakarta, probably never expected to face court proceedings
\nwhen last year at an Internet cafe here, he ordered a helmet and
\nglove from an American company's homepage using someone else's
\ncredit card number that he picked up from a website.<\/p>\n
It just seemed so simple, ordering things over the Internet
\nwith two credit card numbers that were not his own. All he had to
\ndo was type in the numbers and follow the verification process
\nafter selecting an item.<\/p>\n
It only began to dawn on him that maybe he had made a mistake
\nfive days later, when he was notified by the Yogyakarta office of
\nU.S.-based courier service UPS that he had a package from the
\nUnited States. After signing the administrative forms at the UPS
\nbranch office, he was arrested by police officers who were
\nwaiting for him.<\/p>\n
"I wasn't really serious," Petrus repeatedly told the judges
\nat the Sleman District Court last Friday, during the second
\nhearing of his trial. It is the first time in the country that a
\nperson has been tried for this type of cyber crime.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors have charged Petrus with violating Article 363 of
\nthe Criminal Code on theft and Article 378 of the Criminal Code
\non deception. The articles carry maximum prison sentences of
\nseven years and four years, respectively.<\/p>\n
Petrus came to Yogyakarta three years ago from Flores, East
\nNusa Tenggara, to continue his studies. The Internet was new to
\nhim, and after about a year in Yogyakarta he began to visit
\nInternet cafes.<\/p>\n
At first he just visited chatrooms and surfed different
\nwebsites. But he soon realized the Internet could be used for
\nother activities, as conversations about ordering goods using
\ncredit card numbers belonging to people overseas were common
\namong university students, including his friends at his
\nboardinghouse.<\/p>\n
It was from talking to his friends that he learned about
\nwebsites where you could obtain such credit card numbers.<\/p>\n
So on March 3 last year, Petrus ordered a helmet and a glove,
\ncosting a total of US$365.93, from www.agv.com, the homepage of
\nAlabama-based AGV Inc., using two fraudulent credit card numbers.<\/p>\n
"He is only an amateur `carder' who worked alone. He did not
\nuse a false name or a false address. And he didn't send a friend
\nto pick up the package," Information Technology (IT) expert Roy
\nSuryo, who was testifying as an expert witness, said during
\nFriday's hearing.<\/p>\n
In an interview with The Jakarta Post following the hearing,
\nRoy said professional "Internet carders" worked in teams using
\nsystems meant to make it difficult for the police to trace
\nthem.<\/p>\n
"They usually ask that the things they order be sent to at
\nleast two different addresses before the goods reach the final
\naddress... They also never used their real names.<\/p>\n
"Thus the goods they order can be on their way to their final
\ndestination for several months, by which time the documents in
\nthe Internet Protocol that recorded the transaction of the
\n'carders' have been automatically erased.<\/p>\n
"So if they were caught by the police, there would not be
\nenough evidence to send them to court," Roy said.<\/p>\n
Roy said he was sorry to see an amateur like Petrus facing
\ntrial when so many professional cyber criminals were still free.<\/p>\n
He estimated that professional carders caused at least Rp 500
\nmillion (US$55,555) in losses to companies with commercial
\nwebsites.<\/p>\n
A computer expert who asked not to be named told the Post that
\nprofessional Internet carders were helped by people in courier
\nservice companies, and even by police officers.<\/p>\n
A professional carder here can build a Harley Davidson
\nmotorcycle by ordering spare parts piece by piece, the source
\nsaid. But he added that it would be impossible to do this without
\nsome help.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta is among the five Indonesian cities where the
\nmajority of cyber crimes in the country occur, including
\n"hacking" and "cracking". However, the police have a difficult
\ntime fighting this type of crime because of a lack of knowledge
\nand equipment.<\/p>\n
"Our KUHP (Criminal Code) can't deal with cyber crimes, so
\njudges will only accept conventional legal evidence such as in
\nPetrus' case. This is silly," Roy said.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian police, who have been widely criticized by
\ndeveloped countries, particularly the United States, for failing
\nto deal with cyber crime, may be making Petrus an example who can
\nbe held up to these critics.<\/p>\n
"In Petrus' case, we caught him red-handed and we have almost
\neverything required by the court, including a legal complaint
\nfrom AGV Inc. stating that the company suffered a financial loss
\nfrom the cyber crime committed by Petrus," Comr. Didi Yasmin of
\nthe Yogyakarta Police said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/student-prosecuted-for-cyber-crime-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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