Scammers exploiting any technological loophole they can to illegally make money through ride-hailing apps is certainly not a new phenomenon in Indonesia, but the Jakarta Metro Police have recently uncovered what may be the most lucrative of such schemes seen so far.
During a press conference yesterday, the Jakarta Metro Police presented to the public the four scam suspects accused of gaming the system used by ride-hailing app Go-Jek to earn millions of rupiah per day in fictitious ride orders. The suspects were reportedly arrested after Go-Jek reported them to the authorities.
According to the police, each suspect had a phone installed with special software that was able to fool the Go-Jek system into thinking that ride orders were made and completed.
“One person had several [Go-Jek] accounts, some had 15, 20 or 30 accounts. In total, one person was able to get IDR7 million-10 million (US$496-709) per day,” Jakarta Metro Police spokesperson Argo Yuwono said during the press conference, as quoted by Kompas.
Argo added that one fake account, on average, can yield the scammers around IDR350,000 each per day. The suspects allegedly had been carrying out the scam since November 2018.
The four suspects have been charged with fraud under the Information and Electronic Transactions Act (UU ITE). If convicted, they could each face up to 12 years in prison.
The police are currently expanding their investigation into the case to find the person who installed the software on the suspects’ phones.
Last year, police in South Sulawesi arrested seven men, who were registered driver partners with ride-hailing app Grab, for manipulating their employers’ payment system using an app they referred to as “tuyul” (named for a kind of mischievous Indonesian spirit creature that usually resembles a small demonic child). Police said the suspects were making as many as 15 fake orders per day in order to achieve Grab’s daily target, which would net them a bonus of IDR240,000 per day, and, by the time of their arrest, they had allegedly cheated the company out of IDR50 million.
