Arini admits that she was framed by the agency that hired her in Cambodia. The agency lured Arini to work at an online gambling company with an income of IDR 18 million per month. In Cambodia, online gambling is a legal business. But in fact, when she arrived in Cambodia in May 2022, Arini was actually sold to a scamming company, aka online fraud.
At the company, Arini was forced to become a “love scammer” by approaching many men through a matchmaking application. Arini was asked to seduce these men to pretend to buy luxury goods at some of her partner’s workshops. The goods purchased will not be sent, instead their money will be returned with an additional five to ten percent commission.
This means that there are an estimate of 5.4 million Indonesians working abroad who are strongly suspected of being victims of TIP.”
When the number of purchases was still small, said Arini, their money would indeed be returned with a commission of 5-10 percent. However, when these men were tempted by bigger commissions and spent even more money, then the money was no longer returned. Items purchased were never sent.
“At first I didn’t want to. Had 10 days did not want to work. Keep crying. However, if you don’t work, you will be fined. Leaving is also subject to a fine of USD 3,000,” said Arini.
Asked for confirmation regarding this matter, the Director for Protection of Indonesian Citizens and Indonesian Legal Entities at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Judha Nugraha said he would investigate Arini’s case. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Judha, has not been able to determine whether Arini is a victim of TIP or not. There needs to be further verification and interviews to find out Arini’s status. It could be, continued Judha, that what Arini was experiencing was only a labor problem.
If that’s the case, Judha continued, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would not be helping Arini’s return home or living expenses in Cambodia. On the other hand, if the fact is later found that Arini is a victim of TIP, all of Arini’s living expenses and the cost of returning to Indonesia will be borne by the state.
“Because that is the mandate of the law,” said Judha when contacted by detikX reporters last week. The regulation in question is Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Eradication of TIP.
Nevertheless, Judha admitted that currently online scam cases involving Indonesian citizens are indeed at their peak. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that from January 2020 to July 2023, there were at least 2,813 online scam cases involving Indonesian citizens. The cases are spread across eight countries: Cambodia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Middle East. Most are in Cambodia with a total of 1,494 cases. However, said Judha, not all Indonesian citizens involved in online scams were victims of TIP.
The cases that have been confirmed as TIP crimes were recorded as many as 752 cases by the end of 2022. This figure has jumped 100 percent more than the previous year which was only 361 cases. Meanwhile, in the last five years, TIP cases have increased 4 times from 162 cases in 2018. These figures are only TIP cases recorded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Data from other ministries and agencies is different again.
“So there is a sharp increase in the number of cases that have occurred. But this is like an iceberg phenomenon, maybe there is much more that hasn’t been revealed yet,” said Judha.
2023-08-23 07:23:13
#Darkest #Episode #Human #Trafficking
