Phone Credit Used as ‘Currency’ for Illegal Acts

Name: Phone Credit Used as ‘Currency’ for Illegal Acts
Uploaded: 2020-09-04T04:01:19Z
Duration: 20 min 32 s
Description: The practice of using phone credit as currency is widespread. The absence of a regulation has meant that phone credit has become the medium of exchange for many online illegal activities.

The practice of using phone credit as currency is widespread. The absence of a regulation has meant that phone credit has become the medium of exchange for many online illegal activities.

DHANANG DAVID ARITONANG/BENEDIKTUR KRISNA YOGATAMA/MADINA NUSRAT

· 7 minutes read

The practice of using phone credit as currency is widespread. The absence of a regulation has meant that phone credit has become the medium of exchange for many online illegal activities.

CIMAHI, KOMPAS — The practice of using pulsa (phone credit) as a medium of exchange, known as phone credit conversion or sulap pulsa (phone credit trick) is rife. The absence of a regulation regarding the circulation of phone credit and its use has led to it becoming the "currency" for various online illegal activities.

Pulsa is usually used as a way to calculate the cost of telephone calls. Telecommunications operators can also convert phone credit into internet data packages. Smartphone users can buy internet data packages using pulsa. The government provides assistance in the form of pulsa to students and teachers who need internet data packages to support distance learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Nevertheless, the practice of using phone credit as a medium of exchange has been out of sight of telecommunications operators that provide the phone credit. Meanwhile, the government as the regulator has not yet made adequate regulations regarding the use of phone credit other than as a means of calculating telecommunications costs.

The Via Pulsa app, for example, can be downloaded on the Google Play Store.

Throughout August, a Kompas investigation found that the pulsa conversion business was spread across many cities in Java. Pulsa conversion services can also be accessed via Android apps. The Via Pulsa app, for example, can be downloaded on the Google Play Store.

Demand for converting pulsa into money comes from those engaged in various activities online, ranging from game players, jockeys (someone who plays a game for the benefit of others] and gamblers to online sex service providers.

Gamers usually pay jockeys to level up their games with pulsa. Then, the gaming jockeys exchange the phone credit for money. Regular sexual services, such as video call sex (VCS), also often use phone credit as a means of payment. VCS service providers usually convert phone credit into cash at a pulsa conversion provider.

Meanwhile, a number of online sites use phone credit as chips or payment tools. An online gambling site requires players to have a minimum deposit of Rp 20,000 in chips. To top up the balance deposit, players can transfer phone credit to the online gambling admin at a value almost the same as the value provided by the phone credit converter service.

The Kompas team met with operators of such credit conversion services in Lebak, Banten (Uang.com); Cimahi, West Java (Sukmaconvert); Ciamis, West Java (Prapulsa); Baturraden, Central Java (Convert Pulsay); and Wonogiri, Central Java (Medjo Convert Pulsa).

The transaction value for converting pulsa into money at those places can reach Rp 150 million per week. Some of the customers of such pulsa conversion services are those who drain other people\'s credit, either through fraud using the “mama minta pulsa” trick or hacking digital wallet accounts through phishing and social engineering methods.

Transfer feature

No special device is needed to do pulsa conversion. The phone credit conversion providers in Cimahi only use old-style GSM cell phones to receive credit transfers from their customers. Stacks of SIM cards and GSM cell phones, whose batteries were modified to operate non-stop are seen on a table measuring about 1.5 square meters. The table is surrounded by four pulsa conversion admin staff who serve their customers via WhatsApp. They occupy a 9-square-meter room in a house on a narrow street in Cimahi.

Meanwhile, the customers, after transferring their credit, will get the money that is sent to their account or to their digital wallet.

The admin who receives the phone credit from the customers then stores the credit balance on many SIM cards. Meanwhile, the customers, after transferring their credit, will get the money that is sent to their account or to their digital wallet.

DY, 25, one of the phone credit conversion admins in Cimahi, admitted that he receives Rp 1 million in credit conversions a day.

He explained that Rp 1 million pulsa on telco operators XL and Telkomsel can be transferred at once via the credit transfer feature of each operator. "My boss can collect up to Rp 150 million a week in phone credit on XL and Axis operators," he said.

According to DY, the XL and Axis phone cards (SIM) have the largest phone credit capacity, which is more than Rp 50 million. Meanwhile, Telkomsel SIM cards can only store up to Rp 1 million in pulsa. The difference in the capacity of the SIM card to store pulsa and the ability to transfer pulsa makes the “service fee” for converting pulsa into money different for each operator.

There were only a few phone credit conversions for Three and Smartfren operators.

With a large credit storage, the conversion fee of XL and Axis pulsa is 0.90. This means for every Rp 100,000 phone credit converted on XL and Axis operators, you get Rp 90,000 in cash. Meanwhile, the value of Telkomsel and Indosat phone credit conversion is only 0.80. Indosat credit is less attractive because it can only be transferred after the SIM card has been active for 181 days. There were only a few phone credit conversions for Three and Smartfren operators.

DY admits that his customers are not only online gaming jockeys. "There is, punten [sorry], someone who provides a VCS service and gets paid using pulsa. She regularly comes for [pulsa conversion amounting to] Rp 300,000-Rp 400,000. There are also those who do many tricks,” he said.

Meanwhile, a pulsa conversion provider in Wonogiri, RZ, 20, admits that he only has the courage to accept a maximum credit conversion of Rp 300,000 from gaming jockeys. He said that customers who convert large amounts of credit are usually online gambling players. "If you convert [pulsa] Rp 1 million, it is from gambling. It is dangerous if the police track us down, we could be subject to [legal prosecution]," he said.

So, where will the phone credit that has been collected from the customers be sold by the pulsa conversion service provider? According to DY and RZ, the phone credit is sold to online gaming and gambling players and phone credit kiosks.

DY even admits that he routinely supplies large amounts of phone credit to a well-known game player and game YouTuber with the initials BK. According to DY, BK buys credit at his place because it is cheaper. "He bought phone credit from us. At the counter, Rp 1 million credit costs Rp 1 million. At my service, the price is Rp 960,000. Not bad, [the difference] is Rp 40,000," said DY.

New thing

Chairman of the Indonesian Telecommunications Operators Association (ATSI), Merza Fachys, said he was not aware of the practice of converting pulsa into money. "I was surprised that I just heard. We learn first, will discuss at ATSI," he said.

Merza said phone credit was only for accessing telecommunications services, such as buying apps. The phone credit used to purchase the application will be deducted by the mobile operator.

Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Body commissioner I Ketut Prihadi Kresna Murti added that he was not aware of the conversion of pulsa into money. This practice was not in line with laws relating to currency. "This is new for us. It needs to be assessed together. We have never coordinated with BI [Bank Indonesia] because so far we have not found this problem," he said.

According to Ketut, the practice of pulsa conversion should be observed because there are only 2.6 million postpaid subscribers, or 1 percent of the total 260 million cellular subscribers. The remaining 250 million subscribers are prepaid subscribers. "Surely the turnover is very large," he said.

Meanwhile, head of the BI communication department Onny Widjanarko said he did not think that the use of pulsa for online payments had become so widespread. BI firmly stated that pulsa was not a means of paying. Phone credit can only be used to purchase telecommunications products. "We can discuss this with the PPATK [Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center]. We will also discuss which institutions can supervise them," he said. (BKY/DVD/MDN)

Editor:

naranasrullah

BI kompascetak PPATK atsi financial transaction reports and analysis center Indonesian Telecommunications Operators Association