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Banking error lets man withdraw, transfer Rp 21b
A man from Surakarta, Central Java, could be sentenced to 20 years in prison after he withdrew and transferred Rp 21 billion (US$1
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man from Surakarta, Central Java, could be sentenced to 20 years in prison after he withdrew and transferred Rp 21 billion (US$1.8 million) from bank accounts belonging to him and his wife that were in credit by less than Rp 200,000.
The suspect, Didik Agung Himawan, took advantage of an error that occurred while the bank was upgrading its software on April 10, National Police economics and special crimes director Brig. Gen. Arief Sulistyanto said on Thursday.
'He withdrew Rp 4 billion from his account and Rp 17 billion from his wife's account. He used several ATMs and EDCs [electronic digital capture devices] to transfer money to other [bank accounts and credit cards] belonging to him, his wife and his relatives,' he said at his office in South Jakarta.
According to Arief, Didik conducted the transfers 'all night long' from April 10 at 11:30 a.m until the next day at 4 a.m., when the bank fixed the error.
A week after the incident, the police arrested Didik at his house in Mojosongo in Surakarta and confiscated six EDCs and 255 credit and debit cards. Didik is currently being held at the National Police Criminal Investigation Directorate (Bareskrim) in Jakarta.
'We contacted the related banks to freeze the accounts connected to the [illegal transactions]. All the stolen cash has been returned to the bank,' he said.
A police preliminary investigation found that Didik obtained the EDCs while he opened his apothecary business, which is now closed.
Arief said that it was peculiar that the husband and wife had a lot of credit and debit cards, which were opened in the range of four months to one year. 'We will investigate if Didik accidentally uncovered the system flaw or if someone informed him,' he said.
The police are also slated to summon the provider of the upgraded system. 'Our IT division is focusing on the flaws in the system and to find out whether the system error was intentional or technical,' Arief added.
Didik will be charged under the 2011 Fund Transfer Law for unauthorized transactions, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) for corrupting electronic information and the 2010 Money Laundering Law for covering up illicit finances.
If found guilty, in addition to the maximum sentence, Didik may be slapped with a Rp 10 billion fine.
When asked about the incident, the bank's president director did not return to the text message and call from The Jakarta Post.
