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