Police Crackdown Social Media ATM Theft Videos in Fear of Copycats

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Metro Jaya Police announced on Monday that it will coordinate further with the Communication and Informatics Ministry (Kemenkominfo) in taking down social media contents on ATM thefts. 

This follows three suspects the Metro Jaya Police recently arrested for similar crimes after the suspects claim to have studied how to steal cash from ATM machines watching videos found in social media. 

“The suspect learned from social media, which is why we will coordinate our efforts with the Kemenkominfo to immediately take down the contents. We fear the ease of accessing these contents will be misused by crooks,” said Metro Jaya Police spokesperson Grand Commissioner Yusri Yunus on Monday. 

He explained that the content that the suspect learned from was mainly a rehashed content taken from a television show republished in social media platforms on an arrest of a similar ATM breach crime in Jakarta. 

Police are aware that the content does not explicitly teach a person how to commit the same crime, however, the specific case saw the host of the crime show explain in detail how the ATM theft was done. 

“I will not mention it here as it could be a tutorial for others, the technique is conventional but it severely breaks the system,” said the police spokesman who said the suspect would steal cash from the ATM but would not affect the balance of the card holder’s account.

Read also: Jakarta Govt to Investigate Satpol PP Member in Recent ATM Theft

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