"Because of the false information from the defendant, people got interested in becoming Quotex platform users," public prosecutor Romlah said during the trial at Bale Bandung Court, Bandung district, West Java, on Thursday.
As many as 142 people fell victim to the online investment scam that involved the Quotex binary options platform.
Salmanan served as an affiliate who benefitted from attracting members. According to police, he received about 80 percent of the money that users lost when they signed up for trading accounts using the affiliate codes that he provided.
Salmanan who was dubbed "crazy rich Bandung" has been charged with fraud for setting up fraudulent investments through binary options trading platforms. Binary options trading is similar to gambling, but has the added benefit of current digital technologies.
Salmanan, in some videos on his YouTube account, King Salmanan, influenced his victims to invest in Quotex platform, Romlah said. He also attached a registration link with the videos.
The prosecutors accused Salmanan of sharing false information in the videos.
The videos, Romlah said, were made to draw more followers to the YouTube account and entice them to invest in Quotex. Salmanan personally profited from each person who registered and deposited their money in Quotex.
He created a group of his Quotex followers in the messaging application Telegram, and shared steps to invest in the platform.
"After the money was deposited, members followed the game instructions shared by the defendant in the messaging group. But all members always failed and lost," she said.
Salmanan was arrested and named a suspect in the fraud case in March.
He has been charged under Article 45A (1) juncto Article 28 (1) of Law Number 11/2008 on Electronic Transactions and Information, as amended by Law No. 19 of 2016, and faces a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment.
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Translator: Bagus A Rizaldi, Sri Haryati
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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