Samarinda Half Marathon Fraud Suspect Arrested, Participant's Money Rp280 Million Used to Pay Debt

Samarinda Police Chief Kombes Hendri Umar at a press conference on the Samarinda Half Marathon fraud case, at the Samarinda Police Headquarters, Tuesday (30/6/2026). ANTARA/Ahmad Rifandi

Samarinda - The Samarinda City Police (Polresta) in East Kalimantan, are handling a case of alleged fraud and embezzlement of the running event entitled Samarinda Half Marathon which has caused thousands of participants to suffer losses.

"We moved quickly to follow up on reports from hundreds of representatives of participants who came to the command headquarters regarding the unilateral cancellation of the running event by the committee," said Samarinda Police Chief Kombes Hendri Umar, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, June 30.

The alleged criminal act of fraud began to be revealed on Saturday (20/6) at the Samarinda Police Headquarters when hundreds of victims reported the absence of the organizer when the schedule for picking up running equipment for the event held that day.

The police have named a woman with the initials V as the main organizer as a suspect because she was proven to have defaulted on the agreement by not attending to meet the participants and failing to distribute the race pack that the runners had paid for.

Based on the results of the investigation, the number of victims of official registration was recorded as 1,740 people with a total accumulated loss of funds reaching Rp. 481,365,000 which was deposited through the virtual account mechanism or direct transfer to several banks.

"The suspect was proven to have used the registration money of the participants of Rp. 280,447,500 for his personal interests, including to pay the relevant debts and finance his legal advisor's services," said Hendri.

The failure to carry out the marathon running activity was triggered by the lack of contents of the sports equipment package due to the surge in prices, the absence of a formal crowd permit to the police, and the misuse of funds by the suspect.

Law enforcement officers ensnared suspect V using the provisions of Article 492 Jo. Article 486 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) concerning Fraud and Embezzlement, with a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

"We have decided to temporarily set the status of house arrest for brother V with consideration of his very cooperative attitude during the investigation process as well as humanitarian reasons because the person concerned is currently pregnant," said Police Chief Hendri.

Investigators from the Samarinda Police Criminal Investigation Unit have so far examined 13 witnesses and secured evidence of bank accounts and suspects' gadgets in order to complete the case file to be immediately submitted to the Public Prosecutor.