Starting from a Fish Business, Indonesian and Chinese Nationals Conspire to Defraud US Company of Rp 6.2 Billion

The Directorate of Cyber Crime (Dittipidsiber) of the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Agency (Bareskrim Polri) has uncovered a cybercrime syndicate involving a Chinese national and an Indonesian national. The relationship between the Indonesian suspect, identified by the initials LPK (56), and the mastermind, a Chinese national identified as CW, reportedly began from a fish trading business.

Head of Unit III, Sub-Directorate I of Dittipidsiber Bareskrim Polri, AKP Bambang Meiriawan, explained that LPK and CW (who is on the wanted list) had known each other since 2025 as business partners. ‘The person in question is LP, who is a business partner of CW. They have been involved in the fish trading business since 2025,’ said Bambang during a press conference at Bareskrim Polri, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (19/8/2026).

However, as time went on, the fish business was no longer profitable. This prompted both of them to shift to cybercrime using the business email compromise (BEC) modus operandi. ‘Because the fish sales process declined, LJ (another suspect affiliated with CW) asked LP for help in preparing a deed of establishment and a bank account that could be used to hold the proceeds of crime, which had previously been carried out by CW in China through hijacking,’ said Bambang.

In this conspiracy, LPK’s role in Indonesia was to provide a receptacle for funds obtained from email hacking carried out by CW in China. ‘So the task of the suspects (LPK and LJ) was to prepare the deed of establishment, prepare the bank account, and after the account was ready, it was sent to CW in China. Thus, all transactions and all communications were carried out by CW in China,’ he said.

Bambang then detailed the chronology of the flow of funds entering the holding account in Indonesia. It was recorded that on 1 September 2021, money amounting to USD 350,324, or approximately Rp 6.2 billion, entered the account. ‘As presented by the Sub-Director earlier, on 1 September 2021, money amounting to USD 350,324 entered the account,’ he said.

Some of the funds were successfully sent back to China before being detected by the authorities. However, the remainder was identified by the Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK), which then blocked the account. ‘USD 70,000 was successfully transferred on the 2nd and 3rd to four accounts in China. Why was the rest not transferred? Because PPATK managed to temporarily halt the transaction on 4 September 2021,’ said Bambang.

He revealed that there was an agreed profit-sharing arrangement from the outset. Suspects LPK and LJ received a commission of five percent each from every flow of money entering the account. ‘So 10 percent for two people, each receiving 5 percent from every time money entered the account,’ he added.