Housewife nearly loses life savings

Housewife nearly loses life savings

A Bekasi housewife who believed a man could magically multiply
her money, narrowly avoided losing her life savings when the
magician hypnotized her in a bank and attempted to escape.

Dewi Rahmayati, 40, from Pondok Hijau, told Bekasi Police that
an acquaintance called Iskandar had promised he could turn her
millions to billions. She couldn't resist the deal that seemed to
good to be true.

Iskandar asked Dewi to meet a man called Rosyid at the Bunga
Karang Hotel in Bekasi where she was to present him with Rp 20
million in denominations of Rp 50,000, Antara reported.

After meeting Rosyid, he asked her to change the Rp 50,000
banknotes to Rp 100,000 at a BCA bank branch near the Bekasi bus
terminal. As the bank did not have enough Rp 100,000 notes, they
went to another BCA branch three kilometers west of the bus
terminal.

Police, in a statement, said that upon arrival at the branch,
Rosyid hypnotized his victim and convinced her to take a pedicab
back to the Bunga Karang Hotel while he promised to take a taxi
to the same hotel.

Unluckily for Rosyid, Dewi's brother Satimin had been
following on him motorcycle and when he saw Rosyid had bypassed
the hotel he gave chase.

As Rosyid's taxi waited to pass the Bekasi Barat toll gate,
Satimin caught up and, with the help of a group of witnesses,
managed to detain the fraudster till police arrived.

Iskandar is still on the run. --JP