Police Arrest ATM Burglar With Toothpick Capital In Bengkulu

Three suspects who drain ATM residents using the jamming mode with toothpicks were secured by officers from the Rejang Lebong Police, Bengkulu. ANTARA/Nur Muhammad

REJANG LEBONG - Rejang Lebong Resort Police (Polres) officers, Bengkulu Police arrested three gangs of ATM card drainers belonging to residents in this area by using a toothpick to block ATMs.

Rejang Lebong Police Chief AKBP Tonny Kurniawan accompanied by Head of Criminal Investigation Unit AKP Sampson Sosa Hutapea said the three suspected perpetrators of draining the victim's ATM using the ATM block mode were secured on Sunday, July 24, 2022 at around 15.00 WIB while trying to withdraw money through the BCA Pasar Tengah Curup ATM.

The three suspects are RN (53), a resident of Tanjung Happy Village, Tanjung Happy District, Bandarlampung. Then AW (31), a resident of Cikande Village, Cikande District, Serang City, Banten Province, and EJ (48), a resident of Kopi Raya Village, Sukarame District, Bandarlampung City.

"These three perpetrators are a group of specialists in inter-provincial ATM jamming, because these perpetrators acted in Palembang, Lubuklinggau, Rejang Lebong, Kepahiang and Bengkulu City," he said as reported by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 26.

The incident in the Rejang Lebong Regency area, he said, occurred on July 5, 2022, to be precise at the Korem gas station ATM in Air Putih Village, South Curup District, with the victim being an ASN of the Rejang Lebong Regency Government who suffered a loss of Rp. 9.05 million.

Furthermore, on July 23, 2022, the victim was a student in the area, at the location of the BNI ATM at the Curup Roundabout, and managed to drain the victim's savings of Rp. 20.3 million.

The latest occurred at the Korem gas station ATM in the Air Putih Village, South Curup District, with the three suspects successfully taking the ATM and ATM pins in question, but when the suspects were about to withdraw money at the Central Market BCA ATM the victims were able to secure it together with BCA Security Guard officers and members of the Resort Police. Rejang Lebong.

Head of Criminal Investigation Unit of the Rejang Lebong Police, AKP Sampson Sosa Hutapea, stated that the modus operandi of the perpetrators in carrying out their actions was to plug the hole in the ATM machine using a toothpick. After a victim used an ATM and his card was stuck, one of the three came to the victim and tried to help.

While inside the ATM booth, the suspects, he said, also took the victim's ATM card and replaced it with a similar ATM card in someone else's name. The victim was then asked to enter the pin code, but the card that was inserted was immediately swallowed by the ATM machine.

"After the card was swallowed by the ATM machine, they asked the victim to report to the bank concerned or contact the call center, while the three immediately ran away with the victim's ATM card after knowing the pin code," he said.

From the three suspects, evidence of dozens of used ATM cards from various banks, Rp 3 million in cash, two cellphones, and one unit of a black Toyota Avanza four-wheeled vehicle, number plate B 2514 SFQ, and a box of toothpicks that had been colored black were confiscated. .

The three suspects, said Sampson, were snared by investigators for violating Article 46 paragraph 1, paragraph 2 in conjunction with Article 30 paragraph 1, paragraph 2 of Law no. 11/2008 in conjunction with Law no. 19/2016 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE), in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code and Article 363 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, with a maximum imprisonment of seven years and a maximum fine of IDR 700 million.