As far as ATM scam culprits go, few would think to point fingers at two little girls as the primary suspects. But two culprits fitting that description were recently arrested in the Indonesian city of Makassar after getting caught on camera carrying out the alleged crime.
A CCTV recording of an ATM center in the city’s Tamalanrea district on April 20 has been circulated widely since yesterday, supposedly showing the two young girls expertly stealing money from a woman who wanted to make a withdrawal from the machine.
According to the police, the girls, identified as child beggars WE (11) and RS (9) were able to pull off the crime through subterfuge by strategically distracting the ATM user.
“So when the victim was carrying out a transaction and the ATM was processing it, the two girls offered to sell her goods, leading to the victim losing focus. When the victim pulled the money out of the ATM, one girl presses ‘next transaction’ [on the ATM screen unbeknownst to the victim]. When the victim left the ATM, the girls grabbed the money from the second transaction,” said Tamalanrea Police Chief Syamsul Bachtiar, as quoted by Kompas yesterday.
At the time, the victim in the video was not aware of a second transaction because the ATM automatically ejected her card before dispensing the cash.
Syamsul said the police have arrested both WE and RS and believe that the girls carried out the scam three times, the latest of which was caught in the viral video. In total, they managed to steal IDR5 million (US$360) from their victims.
It’s not yet clear what charges WE and RS face, but considering their age, they might escape criminal punishment in accordance with child protection laws. The police say they are investigating the possibility that adults were behind the scam.
This week in the city of Depok, police arrested two men for allegedly running child beggar gangs. The men gave children the target of collecting IDR50,000 to IDR100,000 daily, failure to do so would result in the children receiving less food from them.
