Beware of frauds posing as journalists, warn police
Beware of frauds posing as journalists, warn police
JAKARTA (JP): Police warned on Thursday of increasing
incidents being reported of people purporting to be journalists
asking money from sources or blackmailing officials and
businesspeople.
Secretary to the City Police Public Relation Department Adj.
Comr. Alex Mandalika said that police could not arrest the
impostors without first receiving a report or complaint from the
victims.
"The Criminal Code Procedures stipulate that police
investigators could not arrest a person posing as a journalist
without any report from the victim," Alex said.
He admitted that people pseudo-journalists have also been
"operating" within city police headquarters, including the
driving license division.
City Police received one report from a group claiming to be
journalists, called the Gabungan Wartawan Indonesia (the Alliance
of Indonesian Journalists) several months ago.
The group reportedly demanded money, threatening to reveal the
alleged involvement of police in supporting gambling houses in
the city. But the threat was only a hoax.
A source who has close contact with the group of impostors
revealed that there are at least three places in the city which
have been their "headquarters".
The places are Hotel Paripurna, on Jl. Hayam Wuruk in West
Jakarta, with at least 40 members, a stall on Jl. Kopi in the
downtown Kota area, also in West Jakarta, with around 25 members,
and the Rawa Bening market in East Jakarta, also having about 40
members, the source said.
"They are very convincing and well organized. They have high
solidarity, such as donating money to their members who are
sick," he said.
He said the group at Hotel Paripurna and Rawa Bening market
share similarities in their "operation".
He said the operators usually selected their victims --
officials or businessmen -- by reading newspapers. They would
then visit the victims and demand money.
Meanwhile, victims of the Jl. Kopi group are usually officials
or businessmen dealing in exports and imports, including customs,
he said.
He said the impostors have similar operational procedures when
striking their targets.
"They never visit their victims alone, but in small groups
consisting of between five and 10 people. Each group arrives in a
car," the source said.
He said the impostors earn between Rp 100,000 (US$10) and Rp
200,000 ($20) a day from their operations, which they often
describe as a "news investigation".
The City Police detained "a pseudo-journalist", identified as
Yahya Lubis, on Thursday for torturing Mansur, a journalist from
Media Indonesia daily, last year.
Yahya, who was arrested on the previous day at National Police
headquarters, admitted to having beaten Mansur at Hotel Mulia, in
Central Jakarta, in August last year, after the victim called him
as an impostor.
"I'm not a pseudo-journalist. I have a media pass," Yahya told
The Jakarta Post and Kompas daily.
He claimed to be a reporter for an online media group Lingkar
Dalam.convey.com.
Yahya and his associates were earlier reported by several
journalists, including Mansur, for blackmailing several governors
attending a meeting at the Ministry of Home Affairs a few months
before the incident. Yahya has denied the report. (jun)