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Dozens of fraudulent QRIS donation codes found at Jakarta mosques
A Jakarta man has been accused of replacing mosques’ charitable Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) codes, which can be scanned with a smartphone to make cashless payments, with ones connected to his own newly created bank account, called “Mosque Restoration”.
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A merchant displays a Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) code for cashless payments in Jakarta on April 20, 2022. (Shutterstock.com/wisely)
T
he month of Ramadan is a time when millions of Indonesian Muslims give back to the community by organizing charity events or giving alms to those in need.
But a man in Jakarta has been accused of preying on the goodwill of the faithful to line his own pockets. Police say he went to dozens of mosques in the capital to funnel donations straight into his own bank account.
The man in question, Mohammad Iman Mahlim Lubis, has been accused of replacing mosques’ charitable Quick Response Indonesia Standard (QRIS) codes, which can be scanned with a smartphone to make cashless payments, with ones connected to his own newly created bank account, called “Mosque Restoration”.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Jakarta Police director for special crimes investigations Auliansyah Lubis said Iman, who was arrested on Tuesday, had been placing the fraudulent QR codes since April 1 and that they had been discovered at some 38 mosques in the Greater Jakarta area, including at the capital’s biggest mosque, the Istiqlal.
He has also been accused of placing the codes at a number of musholla (prayer rooms) in malls in Jakarta, including in Pondok Indah Mall in South Jakarta and the Grand Indonesia Mall in Central Jakarta.
Authorities were alerted by the management of Nurul Iman Mosque in South Jakarta’s Blok M Square shopping center, which had found dubious QRIS codes on the walls of the mosque.
“[Iman] would either paste the QRIS codes over the mosque’s own codes or paste his own beside them. He also pasted them on other walls or places that did not have a QRIS code before,” Auliansyah said, adding that police also seized dozens of printed QRIS codes when they arrested Iman.
