Chief Executive Officer M. Mizan Deden Ridwan, 42 was the victim of theft at an ATM located at a gas station on Jalan TB Simatupang in South Jakarta, in early October.
“Inside the ATM booth there were two machines, one of which was being used by a man,” Deden said when he was contacted by Tempo on Monday.
Deden tried using the other machine in the same room. But the machine’s screen said it was broken. He then went out of the room to wait for the other man to finish using his ATM. Deden said he waited up to 15 minutes because the man never moved from the ATM machine.
While waiting outside, another man came up to Deden and greeted him. “Queuing, pak? [The other one is] broken, ya? That’s how he greeted me,” Deden said, mimicking him. They had a bit of small talk, as people tend to do while waiting in line.
After the man in the ATM booth came out, Deden immediately went in and used the same ATM machine. However, when he inserted his card, he felt like there was a lump in the card slot. Deden’s card became stuck halfway into the slot.
Confused, Deden tried to pull the card out, struggling until he started to sweat. At that moment, the man who had stood in line with Deden outside the ATM booth offered to help him remove his card. “But I refused with a wave. Our hands had touched,” said Deden.
Deden finally pulled the card out. He got out of the ATM booth and tried to use his card at an adjacent ATM. However, when he inserted the card, the ATM machine immediately sounded an alarm. Deden was dissuaded from trying again and went straight home.
At home, the publishing company boss received a text message on his cell phone from bank that explains there has been a financial transaction using his ATM card. Deden rushed to check his card at the nearest ATM.
However, ATM machine would not accept his card. He confirmed with the bank and was told that the card he was using was a fake. “When they checked the balance, it turned out that all of my money in savings had already been withdrawn, in the amount of Rp 30 million,” said Deden.
Deden reported the incident to the banks. But the answers he obtained were disappointing. They told him he had been hypnotized because his hands had made contact with the perpetrator’s.
Deden told his story in the hope that this kind of thing would not happen to other people. He said people had to stay focused when taking money from an ATM, even if it the machine is in a crowded space.
“I was stolen from, even though the gas station was crowded and it was only half past three in the afternoon,” he said. Deden also advised people to, as much as possible, use ATM machines located in office areas of bank where there are security guards watching.
Source: Tempo
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