Woman tricked into treating criminals

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 01/11/2007 2:56 PM | Jakarta

JAKARTA: A woman reported to police Wednesday a new breed of criminal, who left her Rp 400,000 (US$45) out of pocket.

Tia, 38, received a call through her cell phone from a man introducing himself as Irawan, an operator from wireless network provider PT Telkomsel, telling her she had won a Yamaha Mio automatic motorcycle.

To confirm her win, she had to call the head of promotions for Simpati phone card users, identified as Iskandar Iranata.

Iskandar told Tia to buy pre-paid phone cards with a value of Rp 400,000 to claim the prize.

She bought four Rp 100,000 cards, calling Iskandar back to tell him the PIN numbers.

Entering the PIN number automatically recharges the credit of the cell phone being used.

Iskandar later told her to call a Captain Yusuf Prayogo who could give her the motorcycle documents. The latter asked her to buy more cards with a value of Rp 600,000 and to give him the receipts and two passport photos when she came to claim the bike.

Tia became suspicious and decided to report the case to police.

Police said they would investigate the scam. -- JP

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