People can go to great lengths to earn money. And that includes "multiplying money" for customers, in order to get money from them.
In other words, it's earning money through scam.
In Babelan, Bekasi Regency, West Java of Indonesia, the police has arrested ustad Herman.
The person who is also known as ustad Gondrong (Indonesia for "long-haired cleric"), went viral on social media and messaging apps for claiming to be able to double money.
"He was picked up directly by officers from the Bekasi Metro Police last night," said Mubaidi, Head of RT, the lowest administrative division of Indonesia.
"In fact, I just found out that some of my residents were able to double their money, he said," said Mubaidi.
In the video , Herman showed his practice of multiplying money using jenglot, a mythical creature from Indonesia that looks like a deformed humanoid.
The creature often looks like a tiny living human doll, with skin and posture similar to a mummy, but with a long hair that can be longer than its body.
Herman showed this jenglot in front of the crowd, before putting it down on top of a wooden box, which has been inserted with pieces of paper.
And by obscuring it with an empty plastic bag for a brief moment, Herman who sports a long hair and a black outfit, performed the money-multiplying ritual using "black magic" by creating lots of Rp100 thousand bills from the wooden box, making them as if they appear out of thin air.
When Herman took the money, that seemed to be around a hundred million rupiahs, out of the box to scatter them across the floor near him, others in the video were seeing this in disbelief.
The video shocked netizens of Indonesia, which quickly made it viral.
As the video caught the attention of the police, the authorities were dispatched to arrest Herman.
"I have ordered the Babelan police chief to clarify the virality of the video to those who claim to be 'Ustad H' or what he calls ustad long-tailed. Still under investigation, whether the person concerned can duplicate or just play around, or is there bad intention to commit fraud," said Bekasi Metro Police Chief Kombes Hendra Gunawan .
Before the video went viral, Mubaidi said that residents often saw a number of people visiting Herman's house.
"What I know is that usually there are people visiting and asking for ustad Herman. His name is ustad here, and he has lived here for about three and four years," continued Mubaidi.
Mubaidi and local residents admitted that they did not want to bother with his business. And following Herman's arrest, they also don't want to be bothered for his practice of multiplying money.
"Let the police take care of it, the residents and I do not want to bother," he said.
Herman was at his mother-in-law's house when the police arrived. And when in custody, it was then realized that the money Herman scattered in the video was actually counterfeit money.
"Brother Herman's wife confessed that all the objects in the video, including money, were suspected of being counterfeit money," said Head of Public Relations of Polda Metro Jaya Kombes Yusri Yunus to reporters.
The video was taken by Herman's wife, and was uploaded to social media networks. But Herman was mortified after realizing that the video went viral.
From the confession of the ustad's wife, the items were burned to rid of any evidence.
As for how Herman managed to make the money appear out of nowhere, it is reported that he used what's called a "magic box," which is an equipment for a magic trick that comes in the form of a box with with separate partitions.
