Bird lovers, beware!

Bird lovers, beware!

From Neraca

Bird lovers should be wary of being deceived when intending to buy a bird at the bird market on Jl. Pramuka, Jakarta. My advice is that you buy birds at official kiosks, where you can be assured that the sellers won't deceive you.

Illegal sellers can be found at the market on Jl. Pramuka. They usually sit at the roadside and hawk a bird in a paper basket. They only let the would-be buyer see the bird inside the bag for a few seconds.

The sellers work in a team. Some of them pretend to buy the bird and start bargaining, one fake buyer offers a higher price than the others. This is to assure you that the bird is really worth the money offered. If you offer a higher price than the other buyers the bird will be yours. The team members then agree to meet at a certain place to divide their fortune among them.

These people are professionals, and it is very difficult to get rid of them. Unfortunately, I was once a victim of a professional group of bird sellers. They sold me a bird for Rp 75,000, Rp 5,000 higher than the last bid of Rp 70,000 made by one member of the team. But later the bird seller informed me the kind of bird I bought only cost Rp 5,000. So, bird lovers, beware of illegal merchants!

Name and address

known to the editor