Vendors deceived under hypnotism

Vendors deceived under hypnotism

BOGOR: Within a week, 15 vendors at Cisarua traditional market have claimed to have been conned by hypnotists.

However, the Cisarya Police Subprecinct chief, First Insp. AS Ridwan, claimed on Tuesday that none of the vendors had reported the incidents to the police.

According to the victims, the con artists usually pretended to be buyers and would hand over a Rp 100,000 (US$9.6) note in payment to the vendors. The criminals would then insist on the vendors handing back change of Rp 90,000 while at the same time substituting the Rp 100,000 note with a Rp 20,000 note.

The crimes have allegedly been taking place for a month.

Cisarua market head of security Ujang Hidayat said he had assigned his men to supervise the market on a 24-hour basis to avoid such incidents from happening in the future.

A similar case also allegedly took place in Tangerang where a 50-year-old housewife, Khodijah, was reportedly deceived into handing over Rp 300,000 under hypnotism. She was about to pay her Tangerang Hospital bill when a man tapped her on the shoulder offering to pay it for her at the cashier.

To her shock, the hospital administration claimed they had not received the money and she was forced to sign an agreement to pay the bill by installment, Antara said. -- JP