Cyber crime rampant in Indonesia

Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A lack of law enforcers with adequate knowledge about electronic criminals and the courts' unreadiness to try perpetrators have made Indonesia a fertile ground for cyber crime, an expert says.

"The police have detained some (money) card fraudsters several times but they could not take them to court," University of Indonesia law and technology institute senior researcher Rapin Mudiardjo told The Jakarta Post recently.

"(They) are afraid the courts will deny electronic evidence as in the Criminal Code Procedures," said Rapin, who is also a member of a team drafting the bill on electronic information and transactions.

Article 184 of the Criminal Code Procedures sets out what is considered legal evidence -- testimonies from witnesses, experts and defendants, letters and material exhibits. It does not mention electronic evidence.

Although the Jakarta Police had established a cyber crime division, it would be ineffectual unless electronic-crime laws were passed and prosecutors and judges were trained in gathering and interpreting evidence against cyber criminals, Rapin said. There are presently no lawyers who specialize in electronic crime in Indonesia.

Rapin said his team had completed a bill on cyber crime and one on electronic information and transactions. Both were submitted to the House of Representatives in January.

The transactions bill would make digital evidence admissible in court, he said.

The Jakarta Police is the only bureau in the country that has a cyber crime division. Set up in May last year, the division has 40 staff. Some have trained in the United States and South Korea.

Presently, police could only pressure many suspected cyber fraudsters to sign a statement pledging to stop committing such crimes, Rapin said.

"The police have even recruited some of the perpetrators as their expert counsels to help curb cyber crime," he said.

City police cyber crime division chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Petrus Reinhard Golose said police could use the existing Criminal Code to probe electronic crime.

"We can also use laws on intellectual property rights, broadcasting and money laundering, depending on the cases," he said.

However, they were eager for the new specialized laws to be passed.

As yet, cyber operatives had only worked with other departments, including the narcotics and the finance division, instead of investigating on their own, he said.

"The narcotics division has asked us to help them to construct a database of narcotics crimes," Petrus said.

The cyber crime division took the spotlight recently when it announced it was hunting those behind pornographic pictures of a well-known TV drama actress and rock guitarist, which were distributed over the Internet.

Petrus said if caught, the perpetrators would be charged under Criminal Code Article 310 and Article 282 on defamation and distributing pornographic materials, each charge carrying a maximum 16 months' prison.

The police rarely received reports from cyber crime victims, he said.

To amend this situation, the division was constructing a website that would enable the victims to file reports through the Internet.

"The website will be ready in a few months," he said.

Petrus warned the public that digital theft, mostly of companies' market data, was on the rise.

The police cyber crime division handles:

1. Electronic transactions:

Purchase through the Internet using stolen credit card numbers or cards, electronic money laundering, stock market transactions, electronic tax transactions and banking transactions.

2. Communication and information technology related crimes:

Telephone tapping, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) abuse and fraud using Short Messaging Services (SMS) through cell phones.

3. Crimes using the Internet:

Gambling, terrorism, card fraud, sex crimes (including soliciting for prostitution), narcotics transactions, smuggling, electronic attacks on infrastructure, blackmail, threats, data theft, defamation.

4. Computer-related crimes:

Illegal trespassing into a system, hacking, cracking, attacking an operating system, making and distributing damaging programs or viruses.

5. Violation of the intellectual property rights:

Pirated software, recorded audio and fictitious websites.

Source: Jakarta Police Cyber Crime Division