Police looking into phone lottery scam

JAKARTA (JP): Police have managed to identify several con artists specializing in deceiving people over the telephone by telling them they have won a Kijang van in a lottery, an officer said.

The head of the general information division of the National Police, Lt. Col. Saleh Saaf, told reporters on Thursday that several suspects, believed to be members of a syndicate, had been identified.

"We've already identified the suspects and will find and arrest them as soon as we have collected adequate evidence," he said.

The suspects usually telephoned the victims and told them that they had won a lottery held by the telephone company.

"The suspects usually called the victims in the afternoon, a few hours before offices' closing hours," he said.

After telling the victims the "good news", the suspects would tell the victims that if they transferred a certain amount of money to a bank account for the vehicle administration clearance, the vehicle would be delivered that evening.

"The con artists usually insisted that their victims transfer the money to the bank account and not deliver it directly to their office," he said.

To reassure the victims, they gave them their cellular phone numbers -- which turned out to be prepaid cellular telephone cards which were unlikely to lead back to the owners.

The victims only realized that they had been swindled after they transferred the money and the promised vehicle was never delivered.

Saleh said that upon hearing that they had won a new vehicle in a lottery, the victims would become so excited that they never thought to call the telephone company to check the story.

One of the latest victims is the wife of a lieutenant colonel. She transferred Rp 2.6 million (US$288) to a bank account after being informed on Wednesday that she had won a Kijang van.

"She was so happy because her family's Suzuki Baleno sedan was stolen last week and she doesn't have a car anymore. She must have forgotten to check with the telephone company in her excitement," Saleh said.

She only realized that she had been cheated when the promised vehicle was not delivered that evening. Instead of sending the vehicle, the con artist even phoned her the next morning to ask her to transfer an additional Rp 1.5 million.

"She then called her husband and asked him to arrest the crooks," he said.

Using the bank account number the con artists had given to the victim, police officers managed to identify the suspected swindlers.

Two men, Harry Mahendra and Bambang Sutomo, are believed to be involved in the scam.

"The suspects must have accomplices who provided documents," Saleh added.

Harry is believed to be the owner of the bank account and Bambang the man who called the victim.

It is not yet certain if Harry and Bambang are two different men or if the names belong to the same man.

"The problem is, from Bambang's cellular phone number we can't establish a detailed identity like we would if he used a regular cellular telephone phone card." (emf)