Despite the ongoing efforts of Islamic political parties to criminalize sex outside of marriage, Indonesians are still flocking to online dating apps in search of intimate encounters, making them enticing prey for scammers.
A female student and her male friend were arrested last month in South Sulawesi province for running an online prostitution scam in which men paid for sex that never eventuated. Silvana Chichilia Umbingo 23 , who was in her final semester of apothecary studies at Hasanuddin University in Makassar city, and her unemployed friend Hamka Andi Anwar alias Koko 29 were nabbed in a sting operation on January Police said the pair started operating in December and duped over a dozen men through social media accounts that Koko created on WhatsApp and Twitter.
The accounts featured alluring photos of young women and had usernames such as Makassar Escort. The precise durations of the two categories were unspecified, but local media reports say short-time is about 90 minutes, while long-time means four hours or more. When potential customers made contact, they would talk to Silvana, who posed as a seductive freelance prostitute and insisted on an advance deposit of at least Rp, via ATM or online transfer.
Some victims paid the full fee in advance. The scammers assumed their victims would be too ashamed to complain to police. Every couple of months, Koko closed the social media accounts and then started afresh with new accounts, usernames and images.
Police said they used special equipment to locate Silvana through her phone number. She was arrested at her rented room. She told police where to find her accomplice, who was then nabbed at a hotel. Koko said they had managed to con at least 15 men and had spent most of the ill-gotten money. The two now face charges under the Pornography Law, which makes it a crime to offer or advertise sexual services. They also face charges under the Information and Electronic Transactions Law for deliberately spreading false information that resulted in consumer losses via electronic transfers.
