Married couple steal elderly woman's gold rings in Sleman, modus operandi involves fake government aid data

A husband-and-wife duo from Tulang Bawang, Lampung, have been arrested by police after deceiving an elderly woman in Moyudan district, Sleman Regency. The suspects are a woman identified by the initials K, 49, and a man identified by the initials R, 64. They reside in Tulang Bawang, Lampung. The incident occurred on Friday, 30 January 2026, at around 09:00 WIB in Sumberarum, Moyudan, Sleman. The victim, an 78-year-old grandmother with the initials MS, lost three gold rings weighing a total of about 5 grams, valued at around Rp 15 million.

Initially, the two suspects approached the victim who was sweeping in front of her house. They asked whether she was alone, and she replied that she was. “Suspect K asked whether she had received government assistance from the regency and the victim replied that she had not yet received any. Then the suspected K offered aid from the regency,” the Sleman Police Public Relations Head AKP Salamun told reporters on Thursday (5/3).

Believing the two perpetrators, the victim handed over copies of her ID card and family card in the hope that the aid could be disbursed. During the process, the suspects also offered to conduct a health check using a device. The device, a flat circular rubbery object, was attached to the victim’s arm to give a pulsing sensation. “Because of the pulsing, the suspected K told the victim to remove the three rings she was wearing so that the device would stop pulsing, and the victim removed the rings,” he explained.

When the rings were removed, the victim was asked to change clothes for a photo. While the victim went inside the house to change, the three rings on the table were taken by the two perpetrators. “When the victim came out, the suspects had left and the rings on the table were gone. The victim had lost three rings weighing a total of 5 grams, or about Rp 15 million,” he said.

The Moyudan Police Sector Criminal Investigation Unit head, Aiptu Totok Subiyantoro, added that the couple indeed travelled around randomly looking for victims. Their targets were elderly people who appeared to be wearing jewelry.”They move around, so the targets are random, focusing on elderly people with jewellery,” Subiyantoro said.

According to the investigation, the male suspect R had carried out similar acts on several occasions in other areas involving different victims. The modus operandi was similar. “The confession from the male perpetrator, who was the idea man, says that he proposed the plan to his wife and then joined her. It is also reported that they had done similar acts before but with other people,” he said.

Subiyantoro noted that the device used by the perpetrators was actually just a standard electric massage tool. It was used to deceive the victim into believing there was an influence from the ring they wore. “The device is nothing more than a regular electric massage tool. But it was used to convince the victim that there was an effect from the ring they wore,” he said.

The stolen gold jewellery had already been sold in Banjarnegara, and part of the money had been used for daily necessities. Police finally arrested the two suspects on Thursday (6/2), when they were in Wonosobo.

For their actions, the two suspects are charged under Article 477(1)(g) of the Indonesian Penal Code Number 1 of 2023 concerning the KUHP, with a maximum prison sentence of seven years.