Indonesian police have arrested 46 Chinese and two Vietnamese suspects for alleged cross-border telecom fraud in a joint police operation with Taiwanese counterparts after Taiwanese victims were bilked out of NT$6 million (US$215,586) over the past few months.

Jakarta Police spokesman Yusri Yunus announced the results of the joint police operation at a press conference in Jakarta on Saturday, during which the 48 suspects were present with their hands bound with rope.

Taiwan’s police liaison officer in Indonesia Kang Chun-min (???) was also at the press event, where Yusri thanked the Taiwan police for their assistance in solving the case.

Yusri said, according to a police investigation, suspects allegedly established contact with people in Taiwan and China via dating apps and then started chatting with them through instant messaging apps such as WeChat and Line.

Some people eventually fell victim to badger games in which suspects demanded money from the victims by threatening them with sexual exposure via compromising video footage, he said.

Kang told CNA that four Taiwanese were defrauded out of more than NT$6 million due to online investment or gaming scams from August to October.

The fraud ring set up four call centers in Jakarta, and allegedly tricked victims using fraud schemes involving bitcoin investment and online dating, Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said in Taipei Saturday.

According to a statement issued by Indonesian police, the suspects targeted Taiwanese from August to October and Chinese from October to November as potential victims.

As for why the suspects had selected Indonesia as their base, Indonesian police said that this required further investigation.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel