Police have finally busted one of the most common text message scams within the book; meanwhile, the country’s biggest corruption scandal could just be swept under the carpet.

In recent years, just about anyone having a mobile phone in Indonesia might have received a text message along the lines of: “Mama minta pulsa, tolong kirimkan pulsa Rp 50 ribu ke nomor baru 081212345678.” Which means: “Mama wants phone credit, please send Rp.50,000 to her fresh number, 081212345678.” Which means which’s a scam.

How do scammers make money after tricking people into transferring phone credit to their numbers? They re-sell which to vendors of electronic phone credit.

The scam has been around since at least 2010. which became so well known which in 2012 which spawned a comedy horror movie, Mama Minta Pulsa. Like most local films in which genre, which was utter garbage, although which could have been Great if which had dropped the comedy as well as instead focused on people dying for forwarding or viewing text spam.

Veering off-topic here, the movie starred big-chested actress Shinta Bachir, who was named during the recent trial of Robby Abbas. Robby, you may recall coming from news earlier which year, ran a high-class prostitution ring which supplied designs as well as actresses to big-spending government officials, legislators as well as tycoons.

When Robby was sentenced on October 26 to one year as well as four months in jail, the presiding judge mentioned which Shinta Bachir was on the pimp’s books for a tariff of Rp.40 million. Shinta, who did not have to attend the trial, separately denied being a prostitute however she has not attempted to sue the judge for slander.

Anyway, back to the short message service (SMS) scam. Police on November 3 arrested the alleged ringleader of a ‘mama minta pulsa’ syndicate, Effendi (36), while he was operating with his wife as well as son in his home province of South Sulawesi.

Effendi, who uses the aliases Lekeng as well as Kenz, was sent to Jakarta because most complaints about SMS scams had been filed within the national capital. Police seized the suspect’s 600-square-metre house, two cars as well as two motorbikes, claiming they were bought with his ill-gotten gain. Effendi insisted the house was a gift coming from his wife’s parents.

Some local media reports painted a picture of Effendi as the mastermind of every single SMS scam, living a life of great riches as well as luxury. His minor affluence will be peanuts compared to the vast wealth of politicians who embezzle as well as extort money, however more on them later.

Effendi said he had learned the scam coming from friends. He had been sending out fraudulent text messages For just two years as well as had 5 employees, who managed a syndicate of scammers based within the West Java capital of Bandung as well as the outlying town of Cianjur. In an individual day, they could send about 6,000 messages, usually using spamming software called SMScaster. They had a success rate of about 1 percent.

The gang provided Effendi with daily earnings of Rp.3 million to Rp.7 million, of which he kept 75 percent as well as the rest was paid to his employees.

Effendi said the gang had stopped sending “mama minta pulsa” because the public had wised up to the scam. Instead, the crooks were sending messages which claimed the recipient had won a bank’s lucky draw or various prizes. Victims might be given instructions to redeem their prizes by transferring cash via ATM to false bank accounts operated by the gang. additional messages claimed “Grandma wants phone credit, she’s in hospital” or “Mum needs phone credit, she’s at the police station as well as using a borrowed phone.”

Police arrested more than a dozen SMS scammers in Bandung as well as Cianjur, as well as on November 21 raided Jakarta’s notorious Pasar Pramuka district, arresting 23 people who made fake identity cards as well as birth certificates which were used for opening bank accounts, which were sold to the syndicate. A fake ID cost Rp.500,000, while a bank account in a fake name cost Rp.2.5 million.

House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto had requested shares coming from gold as well as copper mining giant Freeport Indonesia, ostensibly on behalf of President Joko Widodo as well as Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The latest arrests prompted the creation of an internet meme ‘Mama Minta Pulsa, Papa Minta Saham’, the latter part (which means ‘Papa wants shares’) in reference to the mid-November revelation which House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, had requested shares coming from gold as well as copper mining giant Freeport Indonesia, ostensibly on behalf of President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo as well as Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Setya, who has long been dogged by corruption scandals as well as will be a Golkar Party executive, had on June 8 met at Jakarta’s Ritz-Cartlon Hotel with Freeport Indonesia’s CEO Maroef Sjamsuddin as well as fuel importing kingpin Muhammad Riza Chalid, a man who wields enormous influence among politicians. Maroef secretly recorded the meeting, which discussed Freeport’s desire to enhance its contract to operate the massive Grasberg mine in Papua province coming from 2021 to 2041.

Energy as well as Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said on November 16 filed a complaint against Setya to the House’s ethics council for misusing the names of the president as well as the vice president. Then a transcript of the meeting was released.

Setya responded by claiming he had been joking when asking for the shares. “which was just a joke, light conversation, however Maroef treated which seriously. Like when we spoke about private jets as well as being happy. We were just kidding around,” he told Tempo magazine.

While a few people demanded Setya resign or be fired or arrested, numerous legislators as well as top politicians spoke out in his defence. There are right now growing calls for Jokowi to fire Sudirman because he dared to expose details of the meeting. Sudirman was quickly reported to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for allegedly inflicting losses on the state by allowing Freeport to export copper concentrate without first developing a smelter. Setya’s lawyer threatened to report the minister to police for damaging Setya’s “Great” name.

Sudirman may well become a victim of the Freeport shakedown scandal, while Setya may be too influential to be brought down. “If does go down,” says a senior newspaper editor, “he knows so many secrets of the top politicians which he could bring a lot of them down with him. So I don’t think he will be fired.”

Rather than demand immediate action, Jokowi was happy to joke about the ‘Papa Minta Saham’ meme with reporters. Possibly he will be just playing his cards close to his chest, biding his time to expose all the rotten elements of the legislature with hard evidence. Or perhaps he will be powerless, fearful he may be impeached if he tries to eradicate corruption.

KPK chief Taufiequrachman Ruki, way back in 2005 when he first headed the commission, admitted which law enforcement in Indonesia can never be totally isolated coming from political interference. “We go after the big fish, however if the fish will be too big, my commission could sink,” he said presciently.

The public will have to be satisfied with arrests of modest-time crooks, such as SMS scammers, while the biggest criminals continue to laugh on golf courses as well as in their private jets. as well as our mobile phone operators will continue to send stupid spam. Get used to disappointment.

Police have finally busted one of the most common text message scams within the book; meanwhile, the country’s biggest corruption scandal could just be swept under the carpet.

How do scammers make money after tricking people into transferring phone credit to their numbers? They re-sell which to vendors of electronic phone credit.

The gang provided Effendi with daily earnings of Rp.3 million to Rp.7 million, of which he kept 75 percent as well as the rest was paid to his employees.