Indra Kesuma, or better known as Indra Kenz, is an internet influencer, born in Rantauprapat, North Sumatera, Indonesia, on May 31, 1996.
In a city not far from Medan, Indra was born in a relatively poor family. In fact,
Indra was once a street artist, and later, a ride-hailing bike rider, and also an insurance agent. He was forced to work from a young age because his parents couldn't afford much.
"Seriously, I've been a busker. Because I was a settler originally from Rantauprapat, 7 hours from Medan. I migrated to Medan with nothing, no relationships, no work, only a guitar," he once recalled.
"My parents were only high school graduates. My father was a shop employee, my mother was a housewife who sells cakes."
Later, he attended The Voice Indonesia singing reality competition television series, and later became a runner up of Mister Indonesia 2018 in North Sumatra.
Indra then became a social media influencer, a content creator, a trader, and also an entrepreneur.
Indra is later known as a multi-talented billionaire in Indonesia.
And he achieved all that just when he turned 24.
But what he is better known for, is his habit of flaunting his wealth on social media networks.
People followed him on his various social media accounts because many liked his character, and how his "crazy rich" way of showing off attract attention.
But that was what people knew of him at first.
While Indra has considered his past as a history, he used the fact that he was poor to motivate his followers to be rich.
On Instagram and TikTok, for example, besides flaunting his wealth with his girlfriend Vanessa Khong, Indra often share a number of motivational quotes he wish his followers to follow.
"I want to motivate others, and want others to now me the way I want," he said.
He even wrote a book titled Terlahir Miskin = Privilege (Indonesian for "Born Poor = Privilege").
Indra said that born poor would make the person experience the struggle before becoming successful.
He said that he worked hard and invested his money, and repeat that over and over again, until he finally became rich.
And this was when he was given the title "Crazy Rich Medan."
With his "hard-earned" money, among the things Indra has allegedly bought and showed off to his followers on social media platforms and others' influencers' channels and social media accounts, as well as on TV, include:
- His properties that have a combined price of more than $3 million.
- Cars that include Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupé, Lamborghini Huracan LP580-2, Ferrari P149 California, BMW Z4 Roadster, Toyota GR Supra, and a Tesla Model 3 that he said he bought at 3 AM because he couldn't sleep.
- Wristwatches that include Rolex, Richard Mille and Patek Philippe.
- A shirt worth around $20,000, jewelries, and branded apparel products.
- Cash in Singaporean dollars.
- And more.
Besides that, he also claimed to own Literally Cafe, and a cryptocurrency called Botxcoin he launched back in 2021.
Other businesses he run, include PT. KursusTrading Indonesia, PT. Disotiv Citra Digital, Depatu Warehouse, and a bar called Red Wolf Indonesia.
It was Indra who popularized the #murahbanget hashtag (Indonesian for "so cheap"), when he buys things with exorbitant prices.
Besides the items mentioned above, Indra is also known to live a flamboyant life by spending thousands and thousands of dollars for food and drinks, travels and more.
It was later realized that most of the things he flaunted were results of frauds.
In an investigation, the police in Indonesia said that Indra was involved in a criminal case through Binomo, an online binary options trading platform. It is said that Indra earned most of his money by conducting fraud through this app.
The Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police (Barskrim Polri) has named Indra Kenz as the main suspect in this case.
The determination of the suspect is based on the results of the investigation. Indra was named the suspect after being questioned by the investigator team for 7 hours. Investigators conducted a case and decided that the Crazy Rich Medan had committed a crime.
When Indra is arrested, the police is taking over his belongings, including his iPhone 13 Pro Max and his YouTube account.
"After investigating the case, investigators named IK as a suspect," said Karo Penmas, Public Relations Division of the National Police, Brigadier General Ahmad Ramadhan, in a virtual press conference
"The first things that are confiscated, include victims' bank statements, two flash disk drives containing YouTube content belonging to the suspect, then proof of deposit transactions, then the suspect's four Gmail accounts, the fifth is the suspect's YouTube account, the sixth is an iPhone 13 cellphone belonging to suspect," he added.
When the authorities seized his bank account, it was reported that four of Indra's accounts had billions of rupiahs stored inside them.
Indra Kenz was charged with Article 45 Paragraph 2 Juncto Article 27 Paragraph 2 of the ITE Law. Then Article 45 Paragraph 1 Juncto Article 28 Paragraph 1 of the ITE Law.
Then Article 3 Paragraph 3 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning Money Laundering, Article 5 of Law No. 8 of 2010 concerning Money Laundering. Furthermore, Article 10 of Law Number 8 of 2010 concerning Money Laundering and Article 378 of the Criminal Code Juncto Article 55 of the Criminal Code.
If proven guilty, Indra could face 20 years in prison.
Following the allegation, a number of Binomo app users have reported that they have been scammed.
The police later said that they are also after other influencers who helped Indra.
They include Dоnі Muhаmmаd Tаufіk, Vіnсеnt Rаdіtуа, Erwіn Lаіѕumаn and Kеnnеth Wіllіаm.
Indra Kenz then issued an apology.
Shared on his Instagram account, the Binomo affiliate said that he is apologizing to everyone who has been harmed from his contents about the binary option's offering.
"“My initial goal of making the contents was just to share my personal experiences. Now I realize that there are a lot of people who have been harmed by the contents," he said.
"In this case, please allow me to apologize."
Indra continued by saying that he started knowing about binary option when he watched in on YouTube. Since 2018, he became active in the binary option platform, and started making binary option contents in 2019.
At that time, his subscriber count was only 3,000.
In September 2019, Indra made a statement that Binomo is legal in Indonesia when in fact, it isn't.
In October, it was decided that Indra has to spend at least 15 years in prison, and has to pay Rp 10 billion.
He was found scamming Rp 83 billion from his many victims, in which the money was used to finance his flamboyant lifestyle.
"The situation is aggravating, the Defendant's actions have harmed the wider community on a national scale, very detrimental to at least 144 people with a loss value of Rp 83,365,707,894," explained the prosecutor at the Tangerang District Court, on October 5, 2022.
And sleezy as he can be, the prosecutor said that Indra tried to trick the judge and the prosecutor by showing the Binomo application was still operating through the website www.binomobroker.com, which is different to what Indra used when he was an affiliate of Binomo.
"The defendant tried to deceive and deceive the panel of judges and the public prosecutor, where during the examination at the trial the defendant demonstrated the use of the Binomo application and told the panel of judges and the public prosecutor that the Binomo application was still operating in accordance with the global currency market transit even though the application domain of the Binomo site was," said the prosecutor.
"What the defendant did at trial was different from the domain of the Binomo application site that the defendant used when he was an affiliate, at the trial the defendant used the website domain www.binomobroker.com, while when he became an affiliate the defendant used the website domain www.binomo.com."
However, Indra was polite in court.
"The circumstances are mitigating, the Defendant behaved politely in court," said the prosecutor.
Indra also has to pay Rp 10 billion. If he cannot, it can be replaced with an additional 12 months of imprisonment.