Indonesia and the UNBux
George Ure
Urban Survival
1-3-12
Remember a while back, I told you the strange tale of "UNBux" that had appeared in Indonesia, sniffed out by our Bureau Chief Bernard G? Well this has managed to turn into breaking news this morning and the adventure of the UN-stamped looking US $100 bills continues...
Hiya chief!
Attached is a scan of a story in today's Kompas.
Seems they nailed the fellow passing the UNbux we discussed a while back. The [purported] guy is an ex-footballer (World Cup type) for Malaysia and Indonesia, originally from Nigeria, but holding a US passport. He also has a KTP, which is an Indo citizen card. Supposedly, permanent residents can only get KITAP. His accomplice is alleged to have been a British fellow, also holding a US passport.
The story goes on at great length about the pile of counterfeit (not printed by the Fed/Treasury) dollars, but has little to say about the 'real' UNbux. Apparently, it's a touchy subject to discuss the existence of these things. Anyway, our friendly footballer scammed a woman out of roughly $120k, but she was the wrong person to mess with.
The story leaves a lot of gaping holes, such as where do the 'real' UNbux come from, and why do all these people have apparently real IDs from the US and Indonesia...well, Indonesia I can believe. It would be nice if they do some follow-up on this, but I'm not going to hold my breath. Indo media don't like to stir the pot, especially when sensitive US interests are involved.
Even more interesting is which chemicals are used to remove the UN stampings from the US $100's that are real...but a damn curious story, indeed. Money travels... Nothing elsewhere in the Western press about this. Give it time.
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