"The Director of Risk Management of the BGN has filed a report with the Polri Headquarters," BGN Deputy Head Sony Sanjaya noted in a statement cited in Jakarta on Friday.
He explained that the agency took this step after receiving a report from the Prama Guna Nasional Foundation, which supports the MBG kitchen's operations.
The missing funds, worth approximately US$60 thousand, were allegedly lost due to an online scam.
According to the foundation’s written report, the incident occurred on October 31 at around 6:30 p.m. local time when the kitchen head, Mochamad Cakra Aji Saputra, was conducting banking transactions through the state-run Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) system.
Saputra reportedly received a notification requesting a password change. He then accessed BNI’s live chat feature to verify the matter before being contacted by someone claiming to be a bank representative.
The caller sent him a link to update the bank account password for “security reasons,” which led him to unknowingly share confidential information.
The following day, Saputra discovered that the contact number was no longer reachable and that the kitchen’s account balance had significantly dropped from Rp1 billion to Rp12 million (or around US$700).
Due to the phishing scam, the MBG kitchen, which had only been operating for 10 days, was forced to halt its activities. The facility was producing and distributing 3,500 meal portions daily to eight schools in Batujajar Sub-district.
BGN Deputy Head Sanjaya confirmed that his side has temporarily suspended the kitchen head for further investigation. He also urged all MBG kitchen leaders to heighten vigilance against cybercrimes when handling financial transactions.
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Translator: Lintang B, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: M Razi Rahman
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