Utilization of Social Media as Literature Media about Cybercrime

Anticipation: Descriptive Study on ”Malamtanpakata” Account

Fauziah and Anisa Pratiwi

Universitas 17 Agustus 1945 Jakarta, Indonesia

Keywords: Twitter, Thread, Tinder Swindler, Cybercrime.

Abstract: Social media Twitter is a social media that is currently popular again after it was previously popular in 2011.

With the presence of Twitter, an issue can become a viral phenomenon when it gets a lot of attention from

Twitter social media users. Through a thread on Twitter, the user could tell the story of the event and the

chronology in detail. One of them is the chronology of crimes that happen in the virtub bb cxal world, namely

lovescam which is currently called tinder swindler inspired by the Netflix series called "The Tinder Swindler".

Crimes in the world like tinder swindlers must also be exposed through social media, one of which is Twitter

with the feature it has, namely threads. The purpose of this research is to know how the user interacts with

Twitter in the thread of fraud by tinder swindlers on malamtanpakata account. Analyzing the data that the

researcher did is with the observation of each dialog for Twitter users that happened in the thread on

malamtanpakata account. From the analysis done on the case thread fraud tinder swindler generate traffic

information user twitter that is the basic pattern of communication conversation.

1 INTRODUCTION

The presence of the internet as a new media provides

an interactive communication channel and gives

freedom to its users. The internet also provides

advantages that can display text, audio, video to help

users think practically. The basic arrangement of the

internet and its users leads to the effect of social

division, but on the other hand unites in a different

way (Slevin, 2000 in McQuail, 2011:154). Online

media is a means to simplify and speed up conveying

messages in the communication process. Where the

communication process is the process of delivering

messages from the communicator to the

communicant through the media and giving rise to

feedback.

Online media facilitates interactive social

interactions from what was previously a monologue

media (one to many audiences) to social media

dialogue (many audiences to many audiences). One

form of online media is social media. Social media is

a convergence between personal communication in

which there are sharing activities between individuals

(to be shared one-to-one) and public media to share

with anyone without any individual limitations and

specificities (Meike and Yong, 2012). In the

development of the internet and online media, the

biggest change that can be found is the patterns of

communication interaction. This has changed the

order of communication between people, which

previously relied more on face-to-face interactions,

has now shifted towards the use of media, especially

the internet and cell phones.

The development of the internet and the media

gave rise to a new crime motive or what is commonly

called cybercrime. Various crimes can be committed

using communication technology including

defamation through the internet, gambling, terrorism,

credit card fraud, pornography and other forms of

crimes. According to Symantec's security in the

Internet Security Threat Report volume 17, Indonesia

itself is ranked 10th as the country with the most

cyber crimes throughout 2011. The increase in

cybercrime cases cannot be separated from the

increasing use of the internet and social media.

Criminals are increasingly using the internet and

social media to find victims.

There are many types of social media in

Indonesia, one of which is Twitter. Twitter itself is a

popular application that is widely used in Indonesia,

recorded by statista.com Indonesia occupies the fifth

position of the country with the most Twitter users,

following the graph reported from the statista.com

Fauziah, . and Pratiwi, A.

Utilization of Social Media as Literature Media about Cybercrime Anticipation: Descriptive Study on â

IMalamtanpakataâ

I Account.

DOI: 10.5220/0011976800003582

In Proceedings of the 3rd International Seminar and Call for Paper (ISCP) UTA â

Z45 Jakarta (ISCP UTA’45 Jakarta 2022), pages 109-115

ISBN: 978-989-758-654-5; ISSN: 2828-853X

 2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

109

web page. Twitter is a microblogging application that

is very easy to use, Twitter provides a tweet feature

for its users so that they can share their moments

through writing with a maximum limit of 140

characters. This allows users to freely express their

opinions and write their thoughts through their

accounts and are free to be accessed by anyone. One

of the trends among Twitter users is the trend of

creating threads. (Nasrullah R, 2015:43)

A Twitter thread is a collection of serialized

tweets that are often used to share information

consisting of long paragraphs. Twitter itself provides

a limit of tweets with a maximum of 280 characters.

Then came the Twitter trend that provided a thread or

thread feature that could connect several tweets into a

single piece of information.

(https://www.idntimes.com/tech/trend/fajrina-

annisa-putri/cara-buat-thread-di-twitter, accessed on

15 June 2022 at 20:22)

As in the real world, social media that is accessed

using the internet also invites criminals to act, both

seeking material gain or just a form of fun from

someone. This gives rise to a phenomenon called

cyber crime or cybercrime. As in the case that

happened for some time experienced by the wordless

night account. On March 16, 2022 a twitter account

with the account name Malamtanpakata created a

thread about the case he was experiencing with the

thread headline 'HEART HATI TINDER

SWINDLER INDONESIA'. "Tinder Swindler"

which in Indonesian, translates as "swindler on

Tinder"

Current technological advances not only help

human activities but also become new opportunities

for cybercriminals to carry out their evil actions. In

cyberspace security issues. The high level of crime in

cyberspace and the weak legal handling of criminal

cases in cyberspace have led to rampant crimes that

occur in cyberspace. In addition to this, it will be

difficult to catch cybercriminals with technological

advances. Based on the description above, the author

is interested in conducting research on Twitter user

information traffic in the Tinder Swindler case

Thread.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

Dennis McQuail in his book Mass Communication

Theory (2000: 136) said that new media is a different

set of communication technologies that have special

and up-to-date features. These features are made by

digitizing with various variations available for

someone to use as a communication tool.

McQuail said that the use of the internet in New

Zealand has provided entertainment and information

that has spread throughout the world and can connect

individuals from other parts of the world to be able to

communicate and interact socially without being

hindered by time and distance. McQuail (2000: 143)

also classifies new media into five categories,

namely:

a. Interpersonal communication media.

b. Interactive media, especially in the form of

computer-based games and video games

coupled with virtual reality devices.

c. Information search media in the form of search

engines.

d. Collective participating media, this category

specifically includes the use of the internet to

share and exchange information, ideas and

experiences as well as develop active personal

relationships whose medium is the computer.

In the internet there are also many social

networks whose users range from purely

instrumental to affective and emotional.

e. Substitute broadcast media, the main reference

is the use of media to receive or download

content where in the past the media type was

broadcast or with a similar distribution

method. Watching movie and television

programs, listening to radio and music, etc. are

examples of the main activities.

McQuail (2000: 141) sees that the main problem

in theory about new media, which is of course

different from the theory about (old) media that has

existed so far, revolves around three things. First,

power and inequality, it is very difficult to place new

media in terms of ownership and power where the

content and flow of information are controlled.

Second, social integration and identity, new media is

considered as a force to disintegrate social

cohesiveness in society because it is considered too

individualistic and can penetrate the boundaries of

space and time as well as culture. Third, social

change, new media is considered an agent of social

change as well as a planned agent of economic change

where there is no control over messages from both the

sender and the recipient of the message which is very

likely to occur.

Winston as the author of communication

innovation (McQuail, 2000:155) admits that most

new technologies have innovative potential, but their

actual implementation will always depend on two

factors. The first factor is the “social necessity”

operation which dictates the degree and form of

development of many new inventions. The second is

the “law of suppression of radical potentials” which

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acts as a brake on innovation to protect the social and

corporate status quo. many theories of “culture”

rather than technological determination. Carey (1998)

takes a similar position regarding “new media”,

arguing that “globalization, the Internet and computer

communications are not all industry or history

determined. The final determination of all these new

forms is prepared by politics.

Social media has the character of a social network.

Social media is formed from social structures that are

formed in networks or the internet (Nasrullah Rulli,

2015:17). Social media forms a network among its

users. It doesn't matter whether the real world

(offline) of these users know each other or not. The

network forms a community of people who

consciously or unconsciously raises values in society

as the characteristics of society in social theories. One

of the social media is Twitter. the presence of Twitter,

a web 2.0 service with the type of micro-blog where

users are limited to writing as many as 140 characters.

Twitter can be freely accessed from both users and

non-users. The advantage of this twitter is a speed in

informing an information and of course fast in

acceptance.

3 METHODS

Qualitative research is based on the philosophy of

positivism, because to examine natural subject

conditions where the researcher is the key instrument,

sampling of data sources is carried out purposively

and snowball, collection techniques are triangulation

(combined), data analysis is inductive/qualitative, and

qualitative research results emphasizes meaning

rather than generalization (Sugiyono, 2011).

3.1 Research Target

Subjects and objects of research are targets to obtain

certain goals regarding an issue which will then be

proven objectively. Understanding the subject and

object of research according to Sugiyono (2013: 32)

is as follows: "The subject of research is an attribute

or nature or value of people, objects or activities that

have certain variables that are set to be studied and

drawn conclusions."

So the research subject is considered very

important in a study, this relates to the title of the

study and the data that will be needed. In addition to

the research subject, the object in the study is no less

important because the object of research is used to

obtain data according to a particular purpose. The

subject of this research is Twitter users in the thread

of the Tinder Swindler case and the subject of the

research is the interaction pattern of Twitter users on

the thread of the Tinder Swindler case.

3.2 Place and Time of Research

This research was conducted in North Jakarta, with

the main focus being the owner of the Malam without

a word account who uses Twitter as a medium for

posting threads of the fraud case by Tinder Swindler

that he experienced. The time of the study was carried

out for three months from May to July.

3.3 Research Focus

The focus of this research is intended to limit

qualitative studies while at the same time limiting

research in order to choose which data are relevant

and which are irrelevant (Moleong, 2010). The

limitations in this qualitative research are based on

the level of importance/urgency of the problems

encountered in this research. This research will focus

on “Information Traffic in the Twindler Swindler

Fraud Case Thread on Twitter Social Media” whose

main object is Twitter users in the Twindler Swindler

fraud thread by the “malamtanpakata” account.

3.4 Data Collection Technique

In this study, primary data was obtained directly from

the conversations of Twitter users on threads created

by the Malam without words account. The secondary

data used in this study is the online news

MetroPalembangNews, Detikcom, HarianKompas

and wowkeren. In this observation, the researcher

aims to record or describe the behavior of the object

and understand it. Observations will be made on the

thread of the Swindler Tinder case on the "wordless

night" account on the Twitter application.

The research that will be conducted by researchers

uses descriptive research methods with a qualitative

approach. According to Sugiyono (2016:9)

qualitative descriptive method is a research method

based on post-positivism philosophy used to examine

the condition of natural objects (as opposed to

experiments) where the researcher is the key

instrument of data collection techniques carried out

by trigulation (combined), analysis the data are

inductive or qualitative, and the results of qualitative

research emphasize meaning rather than

generalizations. (Heckman, Pinto and Savelyev,

1967)

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4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Twitter is a web microblogging service that can be

used to update (update) in the form of a text with a

maximum length of 280 characters, or commonly

called a tweet. Updates that we make can be seen by

other people who are our followers if the Twitter

account is not locked. Broadly speaking, the function

of Twitter is to write down the current activity;

sharing links, videos, songs, and pictures; make new

friends in cyberspace; as an advertising medium; as a

medium of real-time information; and even as a

medium for political support activities or campaigns

(Juju & Studio, 2009).

4.1 Tinder Swindler in Cybercrime

The development of technology at this time is like a

sharp sword, meaning that today's information

technology contributes a lot to social change,

progress, and human civilization. However,

information technology can also be used as a means

to be able to commit acts against the law. This fact

triggers a new phenomenon known as cybercrime. At

this time, the more social media that is accessed by

the public, the higher the threat of crime that can arise.

This is of course common, especially in online dating

sites. Romance scams are usually carried out in a

fraudulent mode where the fraudster takes advantage

of someone who is indeed looking for a partner,

usually through an online dating application by

pretending to be a potential partner. Where these

fraudsters play with the feelings of their victims so

that they can easily give money or anything to them.

This type of fraud committed by romance scammers

can be done based on two things. First, the scammer

will seduce until the victim is deceived and seeks

profit from the victim in the form of money. Second,

the scammer will persuade the victim to send a private

photo, which will then be used to threaten the victim

with the threat of spreading the photo.

4.2 Communication Archetype

Analysis

New media or also called new media is a series of

communication technologies that have several new

features, through digitization and are widely available

to personal users as a complete set of communication

tools. The speed of new media is also supported by

the rapid development of communication technology

which is increasingly advanced, proving that

communication media has a dynamic nature that is

not fixed all the time. McQuail (2000:141) argues that

the main problem in the theory of new media, which

is of course different from the old media theory,

which has three main things, namely power and

inequality, social integration and identity and social

change. Power and Inquality, namely constraints on

the placement of new media in relation to ownership

and power in which the content and flow of

communication for the exchange of information must

be controlled.

4.3 Conversation Analysis

Conversation talks about conversation, individuals

interact with other individuals by choosing partners,

topics of conversation, time and place of

communication according to their wishes. This sub-

discussion will describe the basic pattern of

conversational communication regarding cases of

fraud that occurred in online dating applications by

nightless twitter users. In this description, the

researcher will describe the beginning of the fraud

experienced by the wordless night until the arrest of

the perpetrator of the fraud. Overall, postings from

twitter users in the thread created by night without

words foster the attitude of twitter users willing to

help night without words as victims of voluntarily

uncovering cases of fraud.

The thread created by night without words is

crowded with posts by twitter users who provide

information related to the fraud case. In this basic

pattern of conversational communication, it will be

seen how twitter users interact with each other with

topics of conversation regarding fraud cases that

occur in online dating applications, with the time and

place of communication according to the wishes of

twitter users.

From the interaction of twitter users, most of the

posts in the thread contain support and progress

reports from twitter users in an effort to reveal this

tinder swindler case. Interactions that occur in the

forum, twitter users provide reports on the progress of

arrests made by providing information and gathering

evidence related to the tinder swindler case. With the

cohesiveness and well-established interaction

between twitter users in collecting information and

evidence of disclosure of this fraud case, it is hoped

that the case can be resolved soon and there will be

no more tinder swindler cases that afflict online

dating application users.

4.4 Allocution Analysis

In this pattern, we will describe the basic pattern of

allocution communication in fraud cases that

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occurred in the online dating application by James

Daniel Sinaga and the owner of the Malam without a

word account. Allocution is information that is

distributed from the center simultaneously with

limited opportunities to get feedback. Allocution

communication template to see how information

about fraud cases in threads by wordless night

accounts is distributed simultaneously.

After reading all threads related to fraud cases that

occurred on Twitter social media by paying attention

to posts from twitter users, the researcher concluded

that this fraud case was known by twitter users when

a twitter user with the account name Malam without

words created a thread entitled "HEART HATI HATI

TINDER SWINDLER VERSI INDONESIA". In this

basic pattern of communication, it will be seen that

information is distributed from the center

simultaneously which the researcher will describe as

follows.

A twitter user with a wordless night account

created a thread that tells the chronology of being

tricked by his online dating friend who claims to be

named James Sinaga. Night without a word admitted

that he was close to the perpetrator so he wanted to

send some money to James to an account named

Ramdani who was recognized as his assistant. The

thread created by the twitter user Malam without

words is an Alloculation, namely information that is

conveyed simultaneously because of his concern for

the fraud experienced by the twitter user and himself.

With the thread created by the wordless night twitter

user through the online media Twitter, information is

conveyed simultaneously but with limited feedback.

Besides that, the thread created by the twitter user

Malam without words, in addition to providing

information to other twitter users about the rampant

fraud through online dating applications, but also to

seek information about the whereabouts of the

perpetrator James Sinaga.

Based on the description that has been described

above, the researcher can analyze that the post made

by Malam without words initially had a good

relationship with James Sinaga until his post after the

fraud of a sum of money and the disappearance of

James Sinaga was a form of information that was

conveyed simultaneously as a form of sharing his

experiences so that this would not happen. happened

to other twitter users. The tendency of posts made by

night without words is to lead to efforts to appeal to

other twitter users against James Sinaga.

4.5 Analysis Consultation

The basic pattern of communication consultation

refers to a variety of different communication

situations where an individual seeks information

through the information source he or she wants. In

this fraud case, the collection of information related

to the fraud case with the alleged perpetrator James

Sinaga is not only from the Malam without words

account, but other twitter users can provide

information related to the fraud case. In addition, the

collection of information and evidence by the

kaskuser was also obtained by twitter users from the

community who could provide information about this

case which was then posted in the thread created by

the Malam without a word account.

In this sub-discussion, the researcher will describe

the basic pattern of consultation communication,

which is as follows:

Figure 1: Twitter AsbianSabi.

Based on the picture above, it was presented by

Twitter user AsbianSabi on March 16, 2022, he

posted a video of someone who looks like the

perpetrator being chased by a security guard and a

man. The post can be seen in the comments session in

the thread posted night without a word.

Figure 2: Kompas.com News.

Utilization of Social Media as Literature Media about Cybercrime Anticipation: Descriptive Study on â

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Figure 3: malamtanpakata Account.

Based on the picture of the fraud case by the

Indonesian version of the Tinder Swindler with the

alleged perpetrator James Sinaga or Daniel Sinaga or

Ramdani on kompas.com online media on March 17,

2022. In the news, a thread from the twitter account

“malamtanpakata” is also attached.

4.6 Registration Analysis

This pattern of information traffic is termed

“registration”, which is a reversed consultation

pattern, where a center “requests” and receives

information from participants at the periphery. In this

study, the basic pattern of wordless night account

registration communication as a thread maker also

requests and receives information from twitter users.

This can be seen from the communication that took

place in the discussion forum on the thread created by

the Malam without a word account. The night account

without words received various information and

evidence in the disclosure of fraud cases that occurred

by the perpetrators from twitter users who posted in

their thread. Various information was received by the

wordless night because of the cooperation and good

communication between the wordless night and the

twitter users. By receiving a lot of information from

various sources provided by twitter users, Malam

without words hopes that this case of fraud by Tinder

Swindler can be uncovered.

Creating a special thread regarding the fraud by

Tinder Swindler, is the goal of Malam without words

to receive information from Twitter users as an effort

to reveal the fraud case they experienced. So that in

this study there is also registration information traffic,

where Malam without words as the central

communicator receives various information related to

the fraud case from Twitter users who obtain

information from various sources and who conduct

direct investigations at the place where the fraud

perpetrator is domiciled.

Based on the basic pattern of communication

consultation in this study refers to a variety of

different communication situations where individuals

seek information through the desired information

source. In this case, the information obtained

regarding the fraud case by Tinder Swindler with the

alleged perpetrator James Sinaga was not only

obtained from twitter users.

The information obtained also comes from other

sources, which in this case is through print media

coverage obtained from Kompas.com and twitter

users who have been looking for information obtained

from other parties as well as direct investigations at

the location of James Sinaga's original domicile. The

information submitted by a twitter user with the id

AbisanAbi is an illustration of the arrest of James

Sinaga who was at the scene of the case to conduct an

investigation. With the information obtained by

AbisanAbi, then the information was posted on the

thread created by Malamtanakata.

While the basic pattern of registration

communication, based on a thread by a wordless night

account, is described that a center "requests" and

receives information from participants at the

periphery. In this study, the night without words

account as a thread creator and a pioneer in disclosing

fraud cases that occurred in online dating applications

received information from twitter users regarding the

disclosure of the fraud case. With the thread created

by night without words, is a special thread used by

twitter users as a discussion forum to provide

information and evidence related to fraud by tinder

swindler, so night without words receive information

from twitter users through the thread that has been

created.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Online media in the realm of buying and selling

online will become the object of cybercrime crime,

for that people in the digital world are required to

understand not only conventional crimes in online

media, but also crimes involving information

technology (cyber crime) in online media. The modes

and motives of cyber crime are increasingly complex

and therefore there is no guarantee of security in

online media.

The thread created by Malam without words

regarding cyber crimes that occur in online dating

applications is a form of concern for helping victims

of fraud from the alleged perpetrator James Sinaga,

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so that it is hoped that there will be no more fraud that

occurs by Tinder Swindler.

Through the thread created by Malam without

words in disclosing the fraud case he experienced

which is supported by twitter users who are willing to

help victims voluntarily give a positive image to

twitter users, if twitter users also have a sense of

caring to help each other even though they don't know

each other and have met before.

The basic pattern of communication of twitter

users in disclosing fraud cases by Tinder Swindler is

known that the most influential communication

interaction patterns are allocution and conversation.

In the basic pattern of allocution communication,

information is distributed from the center

simultaneously by the night without a word as the

thread creator.

The basic pattern of communication is

conversation, where twitter users interact with other

twitter users with the topic of fraud committed by

tinder swindler actors, with the time and place of

communication according to their wishes. With the

basic pattern of communication, it was able to

uncover cases of fraud with the alleged perpetrator,

namely Ramdani, although in the execution of the

arrests, the twitter users left it to the authorities to

follow up

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