Police arrest four over Rp 318m bank fraud

JAKARTA (JP): City police detectives from the banking crimes division arrested four people on Thursday in connection with a Rp 318 million (US$33,400) fraud case at Bank Bumiputera in Central Jakarta.

Jakarta Police chief of detectives Chief Comr. Harry Montolalu identified the four suspects as Adi, Antonius, Emmy and Ratna.

"The four suspects managed to deliver fake transfer orders to the bank so the bank would transfer Rp 318 million from a Bumiputera account, belonging to a man named Rocky Sarwono, to the suspects' accounts at Lippo Bank in Lokasari, West Jakarta, and at Bank Central Asia (BCA) in Cikini, Central Jakarta," Harry said on Thursday.

"The suspects faked the transfer orders, as if Rocky had asked for the money to be transferred to their accounts. When Rocky checked his account and found Rp 318 million missing, he demanded an explanation from Bank Bumiputera.

"The bank quickly learned that it had been duped and contacted the Jakarta Police. We arrested the four suspects -- two men and two women -- on Thursday."

Harry refused to give any details on the suspects, but did confirm they were not bank employees.

He said that because the investigation remained ongoing, the police would only provide further details in several days.

Last May, city police banking crime detectives investigated two fraud cases. The cases involved two banks here that transferred hundreds of millions of rupiah to bank accounts solely on transfer orders faxed by the suspects.

In the first case, detectives questioned two suspects who allegedly ordered the transfer of Rp 220 million from an account at the Tanjung Priok branch of state Bank Mandiri to an account at the Gatot Subroto branch of the same bank. The transfer took place on April 28.

A detective identified the suspects as Muhamad Ismu YL, alias Satryo Sumantri, alias Iman Manan Sastro, and Burhan.

The suspects faxed a fake transfer order, allegedly authorized by the Tanjung Priok Port authority PT Persero Pelindo II, to the bank's Tanjung Priok branch.

The other case was reported by an employee at Bank Duta, identified only as D.A.

He said that on Feb. 23 last year, the bank received a transfer order via fax, allegedly authorized by PT Gunung Agung, to transfer Rp 500 million from the company's account to a Bank International Indonesia bank account opened in the name of one of the suspects.

"Bank Duta transferred the money the very same day. On March 9, PT Gunung Agung complained of the 'loss' to Bank Duta, and both parties found out they had been duped," a detective said. (ylt)