Polish Man Who Served 3-Years In Bali Prison For ATM Tampering Has Been Deported

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A polish man who has served 3-years in a Bali prison after being found guilty of skimming ATM machines has been deported. Gawel Amdeusz Wojcik, 38, served his 3-year sentence at Singaraja Class II B Penitentiary. In accordance with his sentencing, Wojcik has been deported to Poland immediately after his release.

Wojcik was found guilty of violating Article 33 of the Republic of Indonesia Law No. 19 of 2016 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions in 2019. He was found guilty of tampering with ATM machines across Bali and local reports suggest that he had already served time in prison before he launched his criminal operation in Bali. 

The Head of the Immigration Office Class II TPI Singaraja, Nanang Mustofa spoke to reporters on Monday 20th June as he and his teams were preparing for Wojcik’s deportation later that day. He said that Wojcik was released from prison on Saturday 19th June and was handed over to the Singaraja Immigration Office which had already begun the paperwork and logistical arrangements for his deportation flight. 

Mustofa said ‘When all the immigration administration requirements are met, the person concerned (Wojcik) will be immediately deported back to his country of origin through Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport’.

Wojcik was accompanied to Ngurah Rai International Airport by officials from the Singaraja Immigration Office. He borded a Malaysian Airlines flight to Berlin, Germany. It is believed that he will then travel to Poland by bus. Since he has served his sentence without any further issues, Wojcik is not blacklisted from Indonesia. Instead, he is not permitted to enter Indonesia for 6-months. 

When asked about how Wojcik coped as a polish national in an Indonesian prison, the Head of Class II Singaraja Prison Wayan Sutresna said that he thought that Wojcik managed well. He said that Wojcik did not have any issues communicating with other inmates and prison staff. He explained how Wojcik’s rehabilitation process was the same as all others who were living out their sentences in Singaraja Prison.

Sutresna said that his teams treated Wojcik as they did with any other inmate ‘Guidance is the same as other inmates in prison, namely [focus on] personal and independence development’. It is not known if Wojcik learned Bahasa Indonesia while in prison, or whether a translator was hired for important conversations.

In 2019 Wojcik was found guilty of installing skimming devices on ATMs in Bali. An ATM skimming device reads the details of the magnetic stripe on a credit or debit card that is being used in an ATM. This data gives criminals everything they need in order to fraudulently use the victim’s funds.

The skimming device captures the card number, expiration date, and cardholder’s name which are the details they need to start adding charges to an account. People in Bali are encouraged to inform banks and ATM providers if they suspect an ATM has been tampered with. 

Authorities in Bali take fraud and financial crime seriously. This week the Public Civil Service (Satpol PP) and Bank of Indonesia conducted audits of money-changing outlets in Kuta and found that 8 facilities were operating outside of the law.

Satpol PP and the Bank of Indonesia are meant to conduct audits on money changers two times a year, however, due to the pandemic, the assessments had not been carried out since late 2019. The outlets in question violated the terms of operation in several ways, including not having up-to-date business licenses and blocking public access with signage that encroached onto public walkways.

The owners and managers of the money-changing outlets have been called in for questioning by the Bank of Indonesia. Since the authorities did not find any fraudulent activity the outlets have been allowed to remain open while they get their paperwork in order.