Official arrested over fake bills

Official arrested over fake bills

BOGOR (JP): An official of Bogor District Prosecutor's Office
and two of his associates were arrested by local police for
allegedly distributing fake Taiwan dollar bills in Jakarta.

Bogor Police chief of detectives Capt. Budi Prasetyo only
identified the three as Up, Muk and Uj.

"The three were arrested last week while making transactions
in the downtown Kota area in West Jakarta," Budi said, adding
that Up stole 1,000 fake Taiwan dollar bills (each worth
NT$1,000) from the Prosecutor's office evidence room and gave
them to Muk and Uj to be distributed.

"They haven't got a chance of selling the bills as police
nabbed the group," he said.

Last October, the Bogor District Court sentenced a Taiwan
national and five local accomplices for counterfeiting Taiwan
dollars. Wang A Sung and Sizy Angelina were sentenced to eight
months imprisonment each and a seven month jail term each for
Ujang, Deni, Tediyanto and Dedi.

Budi also warned people to be on alert for such fraud as
counterfeit Rp 50,000 bills had also been circulating in the
market.

Recently, a 68-year-old woman named Leni Hartini, a resident
of Central Jakarta, became a victim of fraud when she gave a
total of Rp 124 million to two men in exchange for their fake
20,000 Bolivian pesos. The two men said that they badly needed
rupiah notes and were willing to offer a "higher" exchange rate.

Similar tricks using Bolivian pesos were reported last year to
police in towns and cities across the country.

It remains unclear whether the scam artists use hypnotism in
their operations. (24/edt)