Two women from Banyuwangi were reportedly herded by angry local residents to the police station in Buleleng, North Bali.
Both of these women had been allegedly conning kind-hearted community members by asking for donations from the public to be distributed to orphanages and children with disabilities, according to Merdeka.
Identified as Saniah, 42, and Suniah, 45, the two women would allegedly bring around a document that falsely claimed to be from the Disabilities Association of Indonesia (HPSI), Kusuma Bangsa Banyuwangi.
The two women supposedly asked for donations to help disabled children for a small donation of Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000.
Ketut Adnyana TJ of Buleleng’s criminal police division said that the scam was first reported to them by local resident I Wayan Sumadi, 26, who said there was something off about the two women.
Doing a search related to the organization the women claimed to be collecting donations for, TJ says nothing could be found on the foundation that was supposedly helping disabled children.
“The modus operandi was to request donations for the disabled. Once checked, it turned out to be a fictitious foundation was carried out by the two suspects before the investigation,” TJ told Merdeka on Sunday.
According to TJ, the two women were arrested while in action at 2 pm on June 23.
On the bright side, at least we know there are people out in the community interested in donating to the plight of disabled people in Bali, as it’s no picnic. Hope this kind of scam doesn’t make people more hesitant to give donations to the real, established non-profit foundations.
