"This is a form of law enforcement against foreigners who do not provide benefits to Bali," Head of the Bali Directorate General of Immigration, Parlindungan, stated on Tuesday.
He revealed that the three Indian nationals were all men identified by their initials P and DK, both of whom held residence permits with visas on arrival valid until February 20 and 11, 2025, respectively.
Another suspect, with the initials SK, held a limited investor residence permit valid until July 15, 2026.
Parlindungan noted that the trio was arrested by the Denpasar Immigration Intelligence and Enforcement Team in collaboration with officers from the Strategic Intelligence Agency, the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), and the Bali Police on January 23, 2025.
On the same occasion, Head of the Denpasar Immigration Office, Ridha Sah Putra, stated that the suspects arrived in Bali mid-January 2025.
They carried out online fraud targeting victims from India who were aspiring to travel to Canada.
Nine Indian citizens fell victim to their scheme, which falsely claimed that their visas, tickets, and other documents for entry into Canada had been completed.
Putra revealed that the victims in India would be contacted via video call to convince them to transfer a certain amount of money.
"The suspects tricked the victims from Bali because they thought their actions could not be tracked down," he stated.
Data from Denpasar Immigration showed there were 138 cases of immigration violations involving foreigners in 2024, marking an increase from 104 cases in 2023.
In 2024, Indian tourists constituted the second-largest group visiting Bali, with arrivals totaling 550,379, or an increase of almost 25 percent compared to 2023, data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) showed.
Overall, foreign tourist arrivals in Bali reached 6.33 million in 2024, reflecting an increase of 20 percent from 2023's figure of 5.27 million. Australian tourists topped the list with 1.54 million visitors to Bali.
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Translator: Dewa Ketut S W, Resinta Sulistiyandari
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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