Bogus group dupes 'MTV' fans

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)