Ringleader: Effendi aka Lekeng, 36, the leader of a text-message fraud syndicate, is presented to the media at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Friday
The mystery behind the prolific viral text message scam saying that your mother is asking for phone credit (mama minta pulsa) has finally been revealed after an alleged mastermind was arrested by the police.
The suspect, identified as Effendi, aka Lekeng, 36, was arrested when he was driving from his hometown in Wajo, South Sulawesi, to Kolaka, Southeast Sulawesi, with his wife. He was trying to escape from the police at the time.
He was handed over to the Jakarta Police on Friday, because according to police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal, most reports from Effendi's syndicate victims were filed with the Jakarta Police.
Jakarta Police violent crime subdirectorate unit head, Herry Heryawan, said that aside from arresting Effendi in his hometown, the police had confiscated two cars, two motorcycles, and a 600-square-meter house, all suspected of having been purchased using money from the scheme.
Effendi rejected Herry's statement regarding his house. He said that the house was a gift from his parents-in-law to him and his wife.
According to Effendi, he had committed the crime for two years, with the help of five trained subordinates. They earned between Rp 90 million (US$6,617) and Rp 210 million monthly.
'My subordinates usually gave me between Rp 3 million and Rp 7 million daily. We then divided the total earnings between the six of us. They got 25 percent, while I pocketed the rest of it,' Effendi said.
The suspect then explained that his syndicate, based in Bandung, West Java, lured their prey by sending around 6,000 text messages daily, to random numbers, using marketing-advertising software SMScaster.
Effendi said that his syndicate had ceased to use messages asking for phone credit when the public became aware of the scam.
'Messages saying that your mother is asking for phone credit are already old fashioned. They became so commonplace that the public have recognized it as a scam,' said Effendi, who failed to finish junior high school due to economic reasons.
Lately, he added, his group sent messages saying that the owner of the number had won prizes or bank lotteries. The perpetrators would then persuade the victims to call them and transfer a sum of money to bank account, each of which was opened using fake names.
Effendi has claimed that he learned the scheme from friends in his hometown, where many people were doing the same type of thing. He also emphasized that he was no longer involved in directly sending scam messages. He said that he supervised his subordinates instead and provided them with laptops and modems, to facilitate and support their activities.
He admitted that he was responsible for paying the costs of a rental house in Lembang, Bandung, in which he and his subordinates had stayed. Before Bandung, they conducted the crime in Cianjur and Sukabumi ' all in West Java.
Prior to Effendi's arrest, the Jakarta Police had raided two text-message fraud syndicates in Cianjur and Bandung, and arrested 13 suspects.
Along with the suspects, the police seized 18 cell phones, 17 account books and 25 ATM cards issued by various banks, five laptops, one computer, 56 modems, three wallets and one phone SIM card.
Effendi, however, said that he was not related to the Cianjur syndicate, even though he knew the boss of the Cianjur group and subsequently admitted that five of the 13 suspects were, in fact, members of his group. Two of them were his family members. He went on to say that his family had urged
him to stop, but he had not managed to do so before the police arrested him. (agn)
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