Perfect strangers: Police arrest 58 people they believe are from Taiwan on suspicion of cybercrime. The suspects, who speak neither English nor Indonesian, were rounded up from two rented houses where the police also seized scores of computers connected to fixed telephone lines.(JP/Fadli)

The Jakarta Post
Date: June 27 2015

The Riau Islands Police said on Friday that they would work with Taiwanese authorities to investigate fraud cases that have allegedly involved dozens of Taiwanese citizens who have recently been arrested by local police in Batam.

On Thursday, the Riau Islands Police arrested 58 Taiwanese citizens from two upscale housing estates in Batam for allegedly perpetrating fraud against people in Taiwan and China.

As many as 20 people were arrested at a house on the Crown Hill Estate while the remaining 38 were arrested at another house on the Palm Spring Estate. Of the 58 people arrested, 52 were men and the remaining six were women.

The foreigners, according to the police, ran their scam by contacting their prospective victims over the phone. They later persuaded or threatened the victims in order to make them transfer a certain amount of money.     [FULL  STORY]