Police make arrests in credit cards scam

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

City police on Wednesday arrested two people who they allege were involved in fraudulently using a number of Citibank and HSBC credit cards, purchasing products at several shopping centers.

The two, identified as Budi Priyanto alias Ramadi, 44, and Armansyah, 41, were arrested as they waited to pay for two computers at Electronic City in the Sudirman Central Business District (SCBD), South Jakarta.

Head of city police's fiscal, monetary and foreign exchange unit Adj. Sr. Comr. Aris Munandar said the arrest took place after a cashier at Electronic City noticed that the name printed on the credit card used to pay for the computers did not match the name on the identification card.

Budi had attempted to pay the bill with a credit card under the name of William Mulyadi.

According to Aris, the detainees had conducted transactions using several fake credit cards at a number of shopping centers, including Kembangan in West Jakarta and Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta.

He said that the detainees had told police that they had managed to buy 21 Sony televisions with the fake cards.

Aris said the two would be charged under Article 263(2) of the Criminal Code carrying a maximum sentence of six years jail.

Police seized a number of items including three fake credit cards, two televisions, a fake driving license, and two fake identity cards.

According to police, Budi obtained eight fake credit cards from Armansyah for Rp 1.5 million. Upon getting the fake credit cards, Budi then obtained fake identity cards and driving licenses.