TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The South Jakarta Police has revealed an online car sales scam done via olx.co.id. The suspect, RZ (33), has been captured in Depok City on August 28.
During the arrest, the police confiscated evidence in the form of 13 mobile phones, a laptop, three modems, 14 SIM cards, two bank books and a note book.
To the police, RZ admitted that he had been committing the crime since 2015. He did so by looking for pictures of cars from various sites on the internet; then used the images to post car sales ads on OLX.
The advertisements he posted attracted a lot of attention because of the low prices of the cars offered. He promised to send the advertised cars once the victims had transferred an advanced payment of Rp1 million to Rp5 million, telling them they can pay the rest after receiving the cars.
But the victims never got the cars while they can no longer contact RZ's phone number.
"He also changed phone numbers and deleted his accounts from the site," Head of South Jakarta Police Criminal Investigation Unit, Adj. Comm. Bismo Teguh said on Wednesday.
Bismo advised the public not to be tempted cheap goods advertised on the internet. "If you have not met the sellers directly and seen the goods yourself, don't pay for anything," he said emphasizing the importance of caution when online-buying.
The Police detained RZ under article 378 of the Criminal Code on fraud with a maximum penalty of four years in prison.
MUHAMMAD NAFI
