Woman in market cheated of savings

JAKARTA (JP): Leni Hartini, 68, does not understand how she could be so easily cheated out of Rp 124 million (US$17,465) in savings within minutes.

The elderly woman told detectives at the Central Jakarta Police station on Tuesday afternoon she had been swindled out of her money by two unknown men early in the day.

The resident of Jl. Kartini II, Pasar Baru area, recalled she was alone at Kwitang market when two men approached her and asked for help.

"They told me that they badly needed rupiah and showed me some Bolivian pesos," Leni said.

The two men explained to her they had thirty-four 500 pesos notes and three 1,000 pesos notes, which altogether were equivalent to Rp 170 million.

Since they needed local currency badly, the two men asked Leni to exchange their Bolivian pesos with her into rupiah at a slightly lower rate than the official one.

"Eventually, we made a deal that I'd exchange their Bolivian pesos with Rp 124 million in cash," she said.

The two men then accompanied Leni to withdraw her money at a nearby BCA bank. After receiving the money from Leni, they handed her their Bolivian pesos.

As agreed earlier, the two men did not accompany Leni into the nearby money changer, but stayed outside the building.

Leni only realized she had been cheated when the cashier at the money changer refused to exchange the pesos. When she left the building, the two men had disappeared.

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. (06/bsr)