South Jakarta Police arrested 11 Chinese nationals who had used a house in Cilandak, South Jakarta, as a site for an online scam pretending to be the Wuhan District Police office offering virtual services.
In the arrest, police worked in coordination with Immigration authorities. The South Jakarta Immigration Office received the 11 arrested Chinese nationals on Friday (25/7) at 10:00 PM.
In their method, the perpetrators wore Wuhan police uniforms and set up a blue backdrop representing the regional police. They then made video calls to victims.
Unified Silence
Police faced difficulties uncovering the case because the perpetrators uniformly refused to speak. They claimed to speak only Mandarin and were unable to communicate in English or Indonesian.
Additionally, none of them possessed immigration documents, which initially hindered the arrest.
“So their modus operandi is like that—when caught, they immediately go silent,” said South Jakarta Police Chief, Commissioner Nicolas Ary Lilipaly, at a press conference, Wednesday (30/7/2025).
Nicolas also reminded that if there are any Indonesian citizens who feel they were victims, they should immediately report the case so the perpetrators can be punished according to Indonesian law.
“If there are any victims in Indonesia, please let us know so we can take further action against the 11 individuals we’ve secured,” Nicolas added.
To this day, authorities are still trying to obtain information about the number of victims and why Indonesia was chosen as the location for this online scam by impersonating police through video calls.
Confiscated Evidence
Items of evidence that have been secured include:
• One set of Chinese police uniforms
• Mandarin-language documents
• 27 mobile phones
• 10 iPads of various models
• 1 Laptop
The perpetrators have been charged with criminal offenses related to fraud and/or misuse of residence permits.
Sources: AntaraNews/Republika
Feat Image: via AntaraNews/Luthfia Miranda Putri
