Fraudster gains Rp 140b from fictive projects

Evi Mariani, Jakarta

Many people are easily trapped by their own greed and promises of quick get-rich schemes although reports about the victims of con artists are often reported in both the electronic and print media.

Fraudster Kemal Rafli, was able to collect a total of Rp 140 billion (US$15.5 million) from at least 20 people who were lured by his promises of huge profits with minimum risk.

The suspect, who had been detained by the South Jakarta Police, claimed to be the president director of PT Kekar Warga Indo. He boasted to the victims that he had secured purchase order contracts from state-owned PT Krakatau Steel, but he needed capital to procure the orders.

"He showed some contracts that looked so real to my husband and I a month ago," one of the victims, Florence told reporters on Tuesday.

She said she and her husband had been in the procurement business for a long time, but as Kemal's documents looked authentic they did not suspect that he was a fraudster.

"He said he had won a tender from PT Krakatau Steel to supply a lot of things like gloves and steel helmets," Florence added.

The couple handed over Rp 10 billion to Kemal without trying to contact the steel producer for confirmation. She declined to reveal how much profit Kemal promised them.

"The percentage of the profit he promised was reasonable, the usual amount that we get from our procurement business," she said at first. But later she said that the promised profit was higher than the usual amount.

Florence said later learned from friends that there were as many as 20 other victims who had been duped by Kemal.

Another victim, Hadi, who reported the scam to the Jakarta Police on Tuesday, said that he lost Rp 440 million to Kemal. He met with Kemal three months ago and accepted his offer to finance Kemal's rubber gloves contract with the company.

"He first asked for Rp 600 million and promised to give the money back in a month, along with Rp 400 million in profit," Hadi said.

Indeed a month later, Kemal gave Rp 1 billion to Hadi. Satisfied with the partnership, Hadi gave more money for the second procurement to Kemal. This time Kemal showed his true colors.

The victims, who previously had never meet each other, then worked together to get their money back.

A number of victims including Hadi reported the fraud to Jakarta Police on Tuesday, while Florence and several other victims plan to file a report on Wednesday.

South Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Ghufron said his detectives had detained Kemal over the weekend.

"We detained him for fraud as reported by Ibu Ida who said she lost Rp 6.5 billion to Kemal," said the police officer.

Citing the suspect's own confession, Ghufron said 20 victims had given a total of Rp 140 billion to Kemal.

Ghufron said that Kemal admitted he had swindled about Rp 140 billion from at least 20 victims.

The victims, who still hope to regain their money, are urging police to speed up their investigation.