GrabToko founder arrested by police on the charge of online scamming

GrabToko is an ecommerce company that sells new Android smartphones and iPhones at a steep discount. However, the website has sent products only to its first nine buyers and didn’t deliver the rest of the phones ordered by hundreds of others.

According to police, there are 980 people who had ordered products from GrabToko. Total losses can reach 17 billion rupiahs (US$1.2 million).

Putra had started the company by asking a third party to build GrabToko’s website. He then tried to attract customers using digital, billboard, and TV advertisements. He also employed a customer service staff of six, tasked to calm customers who were making complaints regarding product delivery.

The police suspect that Putra had invested the customers’ payments in cryptocurrency.

Last week, Putra said via the company’s official Instagram account that GrabToko had failed to deliver products because an investor has embezzled the payments from its customers. He also promised to return the customers’ money. Soon after that, the account was deactivated.

Despite the similar name, GrabToko has no connection to the Southeast Asian unicorn Grab.