Map of Rental Car Fraud: From Rogue Mafia to the Receiver Syndicate
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Vehicle embezzlement has become a serious threat to rental car operators. The business that had appeared promising is fraught with significant risks, from financial losses to safety threats.
Not a few rental operators must confront rogue clients who abscond with the rented vehicles.
When a car has moved into another party’s hands, the rental owner often has to risk their safety to retrieve the vehicle from mafia networks.
A tragic incident occurred when a car rental boss identified by the initials IA (48) was fatally shot while attempting to recover his vehicle, which had been stolen by a renter at Rest Area KM 45 on the Tangerang-Merak Toll Road on 2 January 2025.
Having run this business for more than a decade, Adi says he has experienced a range of highs and lows. However, his bitterest experience was when the car that formed the capital of his business was taken away by a client suspected to be part of a mafia network.
“Where there are mafias, there are many. We as a rental company want to root out the mafias that are causing fear. Our business started from nothing, through our own hard work; they, the mafias, just take, sell, take, sell—our car. That must be eradicated,” Adi said in an interview with Kompas.com in the Tanjung Priok area, North Jakarta, on Friday (6 March 2026).
Over 12 years in the rental business, Adi says he has fallen prey to fraud by mafias three times. The incident nearly caused his car, the capital of his business, to disappear.
One incident occurred when he lent a Honda BR-V to a client under a payment system every three days, because the vehicle would be rented for a long period.
Before handing over the vehicle, Adi said he had carried out a strict screening process on prospective renters.
Moreover, the STNK documents provided to the renter were not original documents, but scans or duplicates accompanied by the rental company’s stamp.
According to Adi, the scanned STNK is intended to complicate criminals who attempt to sell or pawn the rented car.
In addition, rental operators hope that those offered to buy the vehicle will know that it is a vehicle rented from a rental company.
However, according to Adi, many people are still willing to take the car even though it is clear that the STNK shown is not an original document and the vehicle is not accompanied by the BPKB.