Police Arrest Five for Fake E-Ticket SMS Scam, Masterminded by Chinese National
The Indonesian National Police’s Cyber Crime Directorate has arrested five suspects in connection with an online fraud case involving SMS blasts of fake e-ticket payment links.
The Director of the Cyber Crime Directorate of the Indonesian National Police, Brigadier General Himawan Bayu Aji, stated that the suspects impersonated the Attorney General’s Office to deceive victims. The operation was allegedly masterminded by a Chinese national.
“The investigation into this cybercrime case, which involves SMS blasts with fake phishing links disguised as e-ticket payments and impersonating the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Indonesia, has been revealed,” Himawan said at the Indonesian National Police Headquarters in Jakarta on Wednesday (February 25th).
The investigation into this case began with reports from the public and the Attorney General’s Office in December 2025.
After investigation, the cyber patrol team discovered at least 124 phishing website links that resembled the official website for e-ticket payments of the Attorney General’s Office.
Himawan revealed that in this operation, the five suspects were controlled by a Chinese national.
He stated that the Chinese national controlled the suspects in Indonesia to insert SIM cards into SIM boxes or modem pools.
After that, the system was controlled remotely from China.
Then, the suspects in Indonesia only needed to open an application called TVS (Terminal Vendor System) to monitor the number of SMS blasts that were successfully sent and those that failed.
“In one day, the SIM box devices operated by the suspects were able to send phishing SMS to 3,000 mobile phone numbers,” Himawan said.
“To operate the SIM boxes sent from China, the perpetrators needed hundreds of SIM cards that had been registered using the NIK (National Identity Number) and data of Indonesian citizens,” he added.
The suspects’ cryptocurrency wages
Himawan revealed that the five suspects received monthly salaries in the form of cryptocurrency (USDT). Each suspect received a varying amount of wages.
“The suspects received monthly salaries in the form of cryptocurrency or USDT, ranging from 1,500 USDT or approximately IDR 25 million to 4,000 USDT or approximately IDR 67 million, depending on the number of SIM boxes operated,” he said.
In this case, the police also confiscated dozens of PC units, routers, dozens of SIM box units, and hundreds of SIM cards that had been registered using the NIK data of Indonesian citizens.
For their actions, the suspects are charged with Article 51 in conjunction with Article 35 of the Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE); Article 45A paragraph 1 in conjunction with Article 28 paragraph 1 of the UU ITE; as well as Articles 3, 4, 5, and 10 of the Law on the Crime of Money Laundering and Articles 607 paragraph 1 letters a, b, and c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code.
“With the threat of a maximum prison sentence of 15 years and a maximum fine of 12 billion rupiah,” said Himawan.