Police tell residents to be wary of telephone fraud

Police tell residents to be wary of telephone fraud

JAKARTA (JP): City police have warned people to be wary of
telephone fraud, which has been on the increase in the capital
lately.

Chief of city police detectives Col. Harry Montolalu said
seven members of an eight-member gang from North Jakarta were
arrested recently, suspected of involvement in a series of
telephone frauds throughout the country.

"The suspects are Rivai Syam, Jafar Solah, Riyanto, Abdul
Azis, Tohir, Mahmud and Pawit Prayoga, while Syamsul, the group's
leader, is still at large," he said on Tuesday, adding that
police had arrested the suspects after receiving a tip-off from
the public.

Harry said the suspects had admitted to cheating six people,
five in Jogyakarta and one in Cibatu, West Java.

"The suspects called the victims by telephone and told them
that they had won lottery prizes in the form of cars from PT
Satelindo, the operator of international telephone link SLI-008,"
he said.

Harry said members of the gang told prospective victims that
they could speed up the delivery of the prizes by sending them
money.

"But the suspects requested money from the victims to
compensate for the administration fees and suggested they
transfer money to bank accounts at BCA's Tanjung Priok branch in
North Jakarta," he said.

"Total losses as a result of the frauds reached Rp 23.35
million (US$2,747)," he said. (asa)