Authorities said two Indonesian hackers were detained in connection with an international scam in which $60 million was stolen from a Covid-19 relief program assisting Americans who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
Police in the Southeast Asian nation said late Thursday that text messages were sent to 20 million Americans, pointing them to more than a dozen fake US government websites.
“Some 30,000 US citizens were scammed and the government’s financial loss is up to $60 million,” said East Java police chief Nico Afinta.
Police said they were looking into the possibility of a third party being involved in the scam.
