Fictitious Online Arisan Worth Rp 71 Billion Uncovered: 140 Victims, BMW Seized
The East Java Police Cyber Directorate has uncovered a case of alleged fictitious online arisan with a money turnover reaching Rp71 billion. There are 140 people who became victims.
“For the suspect, we have detained her with the initials JNK (a 27-year-old woman), whose address is in Bali according to her ID card,” said East Java Police Cyber Director Senior Commissioner Bimo Aryanto during a press release as reported by detikJatim on Wednesday (12/8/2026).
JNK is suspected of being the owner of the fictitious online arisan that offered profits to its members. The suspect JNK carried out her actions by using social media accounts to promote the fictitious online arisan programme.
“In her promotion, the suspect included various statements regarding the safety, trustworthiness, and legality of the arisan, such as being verified as the safest arisan, trustworthy, and having real testimonials, thereby attracting the interest and trust of prospective members,” Bimo revealed.
After obtaining interested prospective members, assisted by three administrators, the suspect directed prospective members to join a WhatsApp group and enter personal data, such as photos of their ID cards and social media accounts.
Furthermore, Bimo revealed that prospective victims were promised a 10 per cent profit from the online arisan and investment programmes offered by the suspect.
“In its implementation, Suspect JNK as the owner had the authority to determine the timing and the amount of profit in the arisan programme, assisted by three administrators whose tasks were data verification, promotion, maintaining the WhatsApp group, and reminding members when payments were due,” Bimo said.
The suspect also made transactions using her personal money to pay profits to online members. This method was used as a deception to make members appear active and trustworthy.
“With this pattern, Suspect JNK built member trust through social media by including claims of legality, including the safety of the profit-offering programme, as well as the appearance of arisan members as if it were running normally. So that members made payments for the programme they chose,” Bimo revealed.
In uncovering this case, the police secured a number of pieces of evidence, including one iPhone 15 Pro Max, several mobile phones and laptops, as well as several private bank accounts belonging to the suspect.
“As for the money laundering, there are three cars that we seized, one BMW, one Toyota Rush, and one Honda Brio. And it is possible that we will trace assets and seize all assets generated from the fictitious arisan activities,” he said.
From the results of tracing the WhatsApp group, the police recorded that there were 140 victims spread across several regions of Indonesia. The victims came from East Java, Riau Islands, West Sumatra, South Sumatra, Jambi, Jakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta, West Kalimantan, Makassar, Bali, and Papua.
“Based on an in-depth examination of financial transactions, we are cooperating with banks; from June 2025 to July 2026, there were transactions related to the fictitious arisan reaching Rp71 billion,” Bimo revealed.