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)