CNA – The Indonesian police on Tuesday arrested a 38-year-old man who allegedly stole charity donations by placing fake QR stickers in public places which directed the donations to his account.
According to The Jakarta Globe, the suspect had committed the crime at 38 locations such as mosques, fuel stations and malls since April 1.
“So far we have uncovered three accounts belonging (to the suspect),” Director of Jakarta Police’s Special Crimes Division Chief Commissioner Auliansyah Lubis was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Globe.
He added that an initial investigation showed that the suspect has collected at least IDR13 million (USD874) by redirecting the financial donations to his accounts.
According to Antara, the case first came to light last Sunday when a mosque manager lodged a police report after noticing the suspicious QR codes at the Nurul Iman Mosque in Blok M Square, a mall in South Jakarta.
“The informer is the mosque manager who found a QRIS (Quick Response Code Indonesian Standard) sticker at a pillar at the mosque’s entry… The informer asked a mosque cleaner who made the QRIS sticker, but the (mosque cleaner) said he did not know,” said Auliansyah on Tuesday, according to Antara. The QRIS is a standardised QR Code for payments approved by Bank Indonesia across various e-wallets and banking apps.
The mosque manager and the cleaner inspected the entire mosque premises and found 24 more false QRIS stickers, according to Antara.
“Afterward, the informer observed the CCTV, which showed (the suspect) pasting the false QRIS stickers,” said Auliansyah.
He added that the fake QR stickers were pasted over the mosque’s legitimate QR stickers, beside the existing QR stickers, or placed on an empty wall.
According to Antara, the suspect was caught on security camera applying QR code stickers with the writing ‘Mosque Restoration’ on donation boxes and on the mosque walls last Thursday.
