Tribratanews.polri.go.id - Jakarta. The internet usage for online activities, either for social media, shopping through the marketplace, or online working and studying, is increasing during the Covid-19 pandemic. Behind the ample beneficiaries for the people, online activities could hide detrimental effects that should be watched. One of them is the personal identity abuse that leads to increasing online scams, including the scam claiming from Customs. In 2020, The Bravo Bea Cukai 1500225 Contact Centre received 3,000 scam reports claiming from the Customs. In 2021, there are already 900 reports logged until May. Moreover, queries about the scam are the big ten questions often asked to the Bravo Bea Cukai Contact Centre officers. Therefore, Customs committed to educating the public not to be deceived by the online scams, especially those claiming from the Customs. Chief of 1st Section of Patrol and Operation of Soekarno-Hatta Customs, Anton, said that Customs never stops appealing to the public to be cautious in surfing the internet and recognises the scam's characteristics and modus usually used by the online scammers. He stated this during the Online Talks with Bravo Bea Cukai X PR and Press Division of National Police themed "Online Scams" on Wednesday (21/07). "There is modus that usually used: through social media, in which scammer would meet and make friends with the victims then leads to money/goods delivery modus; fake online shop; and fake auction with extremely cheap goods. Generally, all modus have the same characteristic: victims would be contacted by an officer claiming from the Customs through private number and notified that the delivering/bought goods are held by the Customs. Then, the victim would be forced to transfer some amount of money to a private bank account so the goods could be allowed to pass. It is indeed mixed with a threat to scare the victim. That action is indeed a scam", he said. He also suggests the people not hesitant to call the Customs if they suspiciously become the victim of a scammer claiming to be from Customs. "Call 1500225 to check the validity, or confirm it to friends or colleagues working in the Customs. Our officers never call from private numbers, and all payments do not use the private bank account. People also must be aware by always looking for scam modus and checks for the used bank account, either reported as scam or else", he explained. "From the supervision side, we will follow up on every scam report. We will check the bank account used in the scam and coordinate with the local Departmental Police. As a preventive measure, we campaign it to avoid other scam cases", he continued. Same with Anton, Chief of General Information Board of PR and Press Division of National Police, Police Grand Commissioner Ahmad Ramadhan, explained that Police also encourages the people to report the scam. "There are still many (victims) who perhaps do not report because they hesitate or do not know how to report. The report for the online scam is the same as the typical scam, but the handling is different. On the National Police, we have National Police Cyber Directorate. On the Regional Police, there are Cyber Subdirectorate. For the victim of any scam modus, please report to the nearby police stations or 110 call centres available across Indonesia. There are many (scams) that we have solved. The new ones are online scams claiming from a foreigner who worked with five students in Jakarta using an application not registered with OJK (Financial Service Authority)", Police Grand Commissioner Ahmad Ramadhan said.