Dozens arrested for love scam ring in Bali targeting American men
Police arrested 38 suspects, including seven women, in a scam run out of the resort island of Bali, Indonesia. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
DENPASAR, Indonesia – Indonesian police have arrested dozens on the popular resort island of Bali for allegedly running a love scam syndicate targeting American men.
Police made the arrests after being tipped off about suspicious activity at a rented home in Denpasar, the island's capital.
A total of 38 suspects, seven of them women, were arrested.
'They pretended to be women by using women's pictures and fake identity to ensnare their victims,' Bali Police Chief Inspector Daniel Adityajaya told reporters.
The scammers confessed they were working for someone who controlled the business from Cambodia to lure American men to hand over sensitive information, he said.
They chatted up their victims through the Telegram messenger app and sent them fake links.
The suspects were paid US$200 (S$257) each per month to steal the victims' data and information, Chief Insp Daniel said.
The suspects, all Indonesians, face up to 12 years in prison if found guilty of violating the country's electronic transaction law.
Police previously said many scammers have moved to Indonesia and other South-east Asian countries after China cracked down on domestic networks.
In 2019, Indonesian police arrested 85 Chinese nationals and six Indonesians over an online scam that tricked victims out of millions of dollars.
In 2023, they arrested 88 Chinese nationals in Batam, in the Indonesian province of Riau Islands, for running a syndicate that has scammed hundreds of victims in China by luring them into sexual acts and then blackmailing them with video footage.
Many of the victims were public officials, police said. AFP
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
33 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Russian scientist at Harvard released on bail while awaiting US smuggling trial
FILE PHOTO: Kseniia Petrova, 31, a Russian-born scientist and research associate at Harvard University, poses for a jail booking photograph at the Ouachita Correctional Center in Richwood, Louisiana, U.S. May 14, 2025. Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Russian scientist at Harvard released on bail while awaiting US smuggling trial BOSTON - A Russian-born scientist at Harvard University who was detained by U.S. immigration authorities in February after returning from a trip to France was granted bail on Thursday and released from custody while she awaits trial on a criminal charge of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. A federal magistrate judge in Boston released Kseniia Petrova, 30, two weeks after a different judge in Vermont granted her bail in her ongoing immigration case after concluding it appeared she was unlawfully detained. The May 28 decision by U.S. District Judge Christina Reiss concerned only Petrova's immigration case, though, and left unresolved the question of whether she would be granted bail in a subsequent criminal case prosecutors filed two weeks earlier. U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Dein did just that during a hearing in Boston, after prosecutors dropped an earlier request to detain her, on the condition that she remain in New England while the criminal case is pending. "I just want to thank everybody for supporting me," Petrova in a video told reporters gathered outside the courthouse. Petrova's detention came as Republican President Donald Trump's administration ramps up deportations as part of its wide-ranging efforts to fulfill the president's hardline immigration agenda. Her supporters said she was taken into custody as part of the Trump administration's practice of targeting international students and academics for visa revocations and detention, leading to a series of court challenges. Petrova, who works at Harvard Medical School, was detained at Logan International Airport in Boston on February 16 on her return from a trip to France. Prosecutors said U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents stopped Petrova after her checked duffle bag was flagged for inspection, revealing the frog embryos. Petrova has said her boss asked her to bring back frog embryo samples for experiments. But prosecutors said the embryos constituted biological material that should have been declared to customs officials and required a permit. Petrova's visa was then canceled and immigration officials took her into custody with the intent of deporting her back to Russia, a prospect Petrova has said she feared after protesting Russia's war in Ukraine. She was held for months in an immigration detention facility in Louisiana and was only charged and moved into criminal custody shortly after Reiss heard arguments in a lawsuit Petrova filed challenging her detention. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Peru weighs sending foreign prisoners to El Salvador
FILE PHOTO: Police officers stand guard at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, during a media tour, in Tecoluca, El Salvador April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Photo LIMA - Peru is weighing sending what it considers highly dangerous foreign inmates to prisons in El Salvador, the prime minister said on Thursday, potentially following in the footsteps of the U.S.' deportations of migrants to the Central American nation. Peruvian Prime Minister Eduardo Arana did not immediately detail what such an agreement with El Salvador would look like, but the U.S. has paid El Salvador to imprison Venezuelan migrants it alleges are gang members. "The government is evaluating bilateral cooperation mechanisms for the transfer of highly dangerous foreign inmates to their countries of origin, including specialized centers such as the CECOT in El Salvador," Arana told Congress. He did not clarify whether Peru would only send Salvadoran prisoners to the nation or whether other foreign inmates could be sent as well. The prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The CECOT is El Salvador's notorious maximum-security prison known for its harsh conditions, which have drawn sharp outcry from human rights groups. Arana added that the Andean nation was seeking development bank financing to build more prisons of its own as it deals with overcrowding and a recent crime wave. Peru has declared states of emergency in regions across the country in recent months, including in capital Lima, to tackle crime. In May, illegal miners kidnapped and killed 13 mine workers in Peru's northern district of Pataz. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
an hour ago
- Straits Times
Harvey Weinstein judge declares mistrial on rape charge, third sex crimes trial possible
Harvey Weinstein's case continues with his retrial in New York, June 11, 2025 Steven Hirsch/Pool via REUTERS The judge overseeing Harvey Weinstein's criminal case in Manhattan declared a mistrial on a rape charge on Thursday, one day after the former Hollywood movie mogul was convicted on a felony sex abuse charge. Justice Curtis Farber ended the nearly seven-week trial after the jury foreperson refused to continue deliberations following multiple days of reported dissension among jurors that at times was aired in the courtroom. Prosecutors said they will try Weinstein a third time on the charge of third-degree rape, over his alleged mistreatment of the aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. Farber said the case will proceed to trial, over the objections of Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala, and set a hearing for July 2. Weinstein, 73, had pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. He faces up to 25 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of first-degree criminal sexual act, stemming from his alleged assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. Weinstein was also acquitted of the same charge over his alleged assault in 2002 of Kaja Sokola, then a 16-year-old aspiring actress. He is separately appealing a 2022 rape conviction in California, for which he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Weinstein's downfall began in 2017 and helped spark the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men. A different jury in the Manhattan court had found Weinstein guilty in 2020 of raping Mann and sexually assaulting Haley, but New York state's highest court overturned that conviction last year. More than 100 women have accused him of misconduct. Thursday's mistrial came one day after the jury foreperson told Farber that other jurors were shouting at and threatening him for refusing to change his vote on the rape count. The foreperson did not indicate publicly how he planned to vote, and Farber sent jurors home to cool off. In closing arguments on June 3, the prosecution told the 12 jurors that the evidence showed how Weinstein used his power and influence to trap and abuse women. The defense countered that the accusers lied on the witness stand out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer failed to result in Hollywood stardom. Weinstein, who has had many health problems in recent years and attended the retrial in a wheelchair, co-founded the Miramax studio, whose hit movies included such Academy Award winners as "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction." Weinstein's own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after sexual misconduct accusations against him became widely publicized. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
