What is Black Dollar? The "Black Money" Scam Making Victims Again

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Police have dismantled a black dollar scam in West Jakarta carried out by two Liberian nationals with the initials SDT alias J and I alias J. The total amount of losses is still under investigation by the police. However, the losses suffered by one victim are estimated to reach hundreds of US dollars. So, what is a black dollar scam? Black dollar is one form of scam that uses foreign banknotes. This practice can also involve ordinary paper made to resemble US dollar bills, then coated with black-coloured material. To remove the black coating, the perpetrators offer cleaning services using a special solution. They often demonstrate the cleaning process with one or two notes. The perpetrators then ask the victim for additional money on the pretext of buying the chemical solution to be used in the cleaning process. However, after the victim hands over the money, the perpetrators usually disappear or provide results that do not match their promises, because essentially the notes are not genuine currency. This practice is not the first time it has occurred in Indonesia. One instance involved a Navy TNI member, Lieutenant Colonel Zaid Joko Utomo, in 2015. A scam using this method also took place in 2021, where a Cameroonian national with the initials OAT alias FT and an Indonesian citizen with the initials HH alias EP were arrested by the police. In this latest case, a South Korean national became the victim and reported the incident to the police. The Deputy Head of Public Information for the Metro Jaya Police Public Relations Division, Kompol Andaru Rahutomo, said the victim was scammed from September to December 2025. He then reported the incident to the West Jakarta Police Resort on 8 March 2026.