Bogus group dupes 'MTV' fans

JAKARTA (JP): Unsuspecting MTV fans have been swindled out of hundreds of thousands of rupiah in a scam run by a group claiming affiliation with the music television station, MTV Asia marketing manager Daniel Tumewu said yesterday.

He said the group -- calling itself the Indonesian Youth Association and falsely identifying its chairman as President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo Mandala Putra -- contacted at least five residents of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, and Malang, East Java, last month.

It informed them they were selected for a tour of Singapore and Australia, plus Rp 1.8 million in prize money.

The catch was that "winners" were required to each transfer Rp 690,000 to a bank account, Tumewu said after lodging a complaint with the South Jakarta police.

The victims complied, and had also shown up for an announced awards ceremony at a Jakarta hotel last week. After being informed that there was no scheduled event, they had informed the MTV representative office here.

The same group had earlier tried to cheat 12 people from Jakarta, Banda Aceh, Malang, and Banjarmasin. They were told they were winners in a contest run by the State Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and were entitled to Rp 1.8 million and a five-day group-study tour of Japan and the U.S., according to the minister's assistant, Darwan Siregar.

Six of them had called to confirm the veracity of the group with the ministry and had learned the truth. (02)