Muhtadi, a 54-year-old man, looked dazed and confused as he approached the police post in Gambir train station, Central Jakarta last night.
Muhtadin claimed he was hypnotized by a thief who stole his mobile phone and Rp 700k in cash.
When he arrived in Gambir, he said he was followed by the thief.
“When I got here, the person approached me and asked for help. He said his name was Haris Panas and he showed me an ID card showing that he’s a PLN employee from Natar, Lampung,” Muhtadin said, as quoted by Kompas.
Muhtadi then fell into a deep and friendly conversation with Haris, who he recalled was middle-aged and tall.
Suddenly, Haris said he needed to borrow Rp 1 million from Muhtadin. Haris then took Muhtadin’s hand in a handshake, and Muhtadin then just handed over Rp 700 thousand in cash as well as his Nokia phone.
“As collateral, he gave me a brown box with US$ 26 written on it.”
This incident proved to be a huge setback for Muhtadi, who claimed he was having financial difficulties and came to Jakarta himself to borrow money from relatives.
The hypno-thief was not seen after the encounter.
