Scam through telephone

Scam through telephone

From Neraca

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) has, of late, received a lot of complaints from consumers assumed to have fallen prey to a scam with a lottery prize as a cover. The victims, most of whom live outside Jakarta or Java, receive a phone call from someone claiming to live in Jakarta, telling them convincingly that they have won from a certain agency a prize, either an automobile, a motorcycle or a computer. These victims are individuals and statutory bodies.

Then the caller asks the victims to remit, usually within a very short time, between Rp 500,000 and Rp 25 million to a certain account number at a designated bank, saying that the money will be needed to cover administration fees, taxes or transportation costs. The caller must also leave his mobile phone number.

In view of the above, we appeal to all community members that if they get a similar call they must first verify it and then report it immediately to the nearest police station.

To be able to uncover this scam and arrest the perpetrators, coordination must be established among the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the state telecommunications company, the state electricity company, the police, cellular telephone providers, consumers, computer companies and automobile companies.

As this is strongly assumed to be a scam it must be thoroughly investigation so that its modus operandi may be uncovered. This is necessary to ensure that no more people will fall prey to this scam.

YLKI is open to all complaints about this case. Please call hot line service numbers: (021) 79191255 or 7971378 or fax number 7981038.

AGUS PAMBAGIO

YLKI Deputy Chairman