Facebook is not a Friend of Bank Robbery Suspects

The news media have been reporting about some people who used the social media Facebook to take advantage of other people.

There were stories about young girls who were abducted or seduced by their male friends whom they met in Facebook, there were other stories about people losing money because they deal with the people they met in Facebook, etc.

However, there were also good stories about Facebook, for example an article by Paula Martersteck in Legal Blog Watch tells us about two bank robbery cases in the U.S whose suspects were arrested by the Police based on information available in Facebook.

In the first case, two bank tellers and their acquaintances were indicted this month in connection with a Texas bank robbery that netted US$ 62,000.00.

Investigators determined that the robbery was an inside job in part because of an anonymous Crime Stoppers tip that led them to two suspects' Facebook pages.

Two days prior to the bank robbery, one of the tellers posted a Facebook status update that read: "Get $$$." And two days after the crime, she posted, "I M RICH".

Meanwhile, the teller's boyfriend, who is apparently prone to similar celebratory online outbursts, allegedly posted the day after the robbery: "WIPE MY TEETH WITH HUNDEREDS." 

In the second case, a Michigan man was indicted after an informant told the FBI about the suspect's Facebook account, which was registered under the name of  "Anthony Mrshowoff Wilson."

According to U.S Federal Court records, Wilson's Facebook photos show him wearing attire (some with Polo emblems) that matches the clothing worn by the suspect in at least two bank robberies.

Facebook gave Wilson's birth date, cell phone number, photos, messages and friends information to the FBI, which compared the Facebook photos to images taken from a bank surveillance video.

This is a good news, and I hope that Facebook will keep on supporting our society in the future.

US Officials Returned Artifacts to Indonesia

Officials in the United States hand over five Dayak hand carved 18th and 19th century Human Skulls to the Indonesian Consulate in New York.

According to The Wall Street Journal, those decorated Human Skulls raised suspicion when they arrived at a mail facility in Newark, New Jersey, last summer.
They were delivered from Bali, declared at a value of less than US$ 5, but  later, U.S. investigators determined the artifacts are actually worth US$ 3,000 to US$ 5,000 each.

This is a very good news. I hope that other countries would also be willing to return illegal artifacts to Indonesia.

Citibank and the Murder of a Cardholder

Beside facing an embezzlement of prime customers funds by its Senior Manager, U.S based bank Citibank is facing a very serious criminal charges i.e. the torture to death of  a credit card holder by its debt collector.

The tragedy happened on 29 March when a holder of Citibank credit card i.e. Irzen Octa, Secretary General of United Nation Party, came to the bank's office at Menara Jamsostek, South Jakarta, to complain about the incredible sudden increase on his card bill from Rp 48 Million to Rp 100 Million.

Unable to handle the complain properly, an officer of the bank and two outsourced debt collectors took Irzen to the bank's room at the fifth floor of the building and brutally beat him to death.

The Jakarta Post quoted a Police officer as saying that traces of blood were found on the curtains and walls
and an autopsy performed on Irzen showed he suffered damage to his brain.

The Citibank officer and the two debt collectors were arrested and named suspects in the murder case and could be charged with Battery and Torture based on the Criminal Law, which carries a maximum jail sentence of five-and-a-half years.

Citibank PR officer Ditta Amahorseya refused to comment on the Police investigation but said that Citibank had and obeyed a strict code of ethics in regards to debt collection.

It is very sad to know that a big and famous U.S based bank like Citibank could ever use violent loving gang of thugs to handling the bank's customers, instead of legal proceedings. I hope that the government, especially Bank Indonesia as central bank, and law enforcement agencies would take serious actions, so that other banks would not use violence anymore.

Citibank Case : Melinda Dee

U.S based Citibank is the largest and a well known foreign bank in Indonesia.

This is obvious because according to Wikipedia,  Citibank has had it presence in Indonesia since 1918 when its precursor, The International Banking Corporation, set up branches in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) and Surabaya. The International Banking Corporation withdrew from Indonesia in the late 1920s, but Citibank reopened in Jakarta in 1968.

Many banks in Indonesia have adopted system quite similar to Citibank and hired ex officers of the said bank

Because of many decades of good performance and public image, I was very surprised when I read on the media that Citibank's Senior Manager for Prime Customers i.e. Inong Melinda a.k.a Melinda Dee (47) who has worked in the bank for around 20 years embezzled Rp 20 Billion of the bank's customers' money. 

During a talk show on TVOne tonight, a PR officer of the Police said that it is now investigating the case thoroughly, for which purpose they have arrested and named Melinda and a Teller of said bank as Suspects.

Beside that, the Police has confiscated money, apartments, expensive cars i.e. Hummer, Ferrari, Mercedes Benz. worth Rp 20 Billion.

I am very interested to know the development of the investigation of this case.