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Facebook brothel busted in Indonesia

facebook brothel busted in indonesia dony final
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Hey, people doing illegal stuff. Here’s a pro tip: Stop advertising it on Facebook. You’re going to get arrested. 

An Indonesian man named Kamal Laduny was apprehended after undercover police busted his brothel in Bali, posing as potential customers. Two underage girls working in the brothel were also taken into custody following the raid. 

The police had been investigating the case for over a month, because Laduny allegedly used a Facebook account under the name “Dony Dewata” (which is still active) to arrange sexual encounters. The profile picture is of a condom and a wad of money, because subtlety apparently isn’t highly valued in the Facebook brothel community. And his relationship status is “It’s complicated” because of course it is. 

“The Facebook users interested in getting the services offered by Dony would have to send him a message. The suspect would responded by sending his private cell number and they would later negotiate the price and rendezvous point by cell phone,” a government official named Luh Putu Anggreni explained to The Jakarta Post. 

Since the Facebook page is active and some of the pictures are public, you can still see some of the sex workers the account advertised, as well as comments on the women and replies from the brothel owner; he sometimes gave a number out. 

Police questioned the suspect because they are still unsure whether he acted alone or as part of a wider criminal ring prostituting underage girls. 

As police officers become more adept at using social media and turn to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other services for evidence, examples like this keep cropping up the news, each story’s criminal somehow outdoing the last on the stupid-o-meter, you’d think that people engaged in criminal activities would make some effort to conceal their identities and activities instead of deliberately broadcasting them on social media… but apparently not. 

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Kate Knibbs
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Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…
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