Celebrities were among thousands of Indonesians duped to invest in a business fraudulent fabrics offered unfeasibly big profits. The name of the fabric brand? God is big.
Imagine investing a single rp.1 million ($ 75) and get your money after only 41 days and daily bonus payment Rp.200,000 for the next 1000 days . You want to raise Rp.200 million ($ 15,000) in less than three years.
This is what was promised by a man named Kamal Tarachand, whose company PT Bintara Eximindo began God is Great tissue company in November 2014. It looked like a classic Ponzi scheme in which funds new investors is used to pay dividends to previous investors - although it seems no one has received substantial dividends
.The scam was reminiscent of an old episode of South Park in which so-called Underpants Gnomes (stealing underwear) describe their sense of business model: Phase 1 - Collect underpants; Phase 2 -; Phase 3 - Profit. Gnomes will explain how their business will generate profits.
The God's great plan was equally ridiculous. Phase 1 - Buy fabrics; Phase 2 - advertising printed on tissue packs; Phase 3 - astronomical profits. Or more precisely: find gullible people and take their money
. 
Police arrested Kamal June 3 while dining at the Holiday Inn Jakarta Kemayoran to Sunter, north Jakarta. Two days later, the police raided his office Kelapa Gading nearby and seized nine boxes of evidence, mostly computers and tissues. According to investigators, the scam has claimed at least 3131 victims through several provinces in recent months .
Celebrities duped by the scam said Kamalhad claimed to be owner of the Bank of India and a nephew of Raam Punjabi. - a famous film and soap opera producer of Indian origin He also boasted that its license operating issued by Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Purnama. He showed a fake photo of him posing with 'Ahok' -. In fact one of the victims of the scam, the actor Rizal Jibran, with face superimposed Ahok
The God is great concept was to introduce paid advertising on the packaging of tissues - thus generating benefits of the two fabric sales and advertising. Investors were told they could also advertise their own businesses tissue packets.
The targets were invited to invest rp.1 million to Rp.513 million. It would be used to pay the tissues allegedly made at a factory in Pasuruan, East Java. The retail price for a pack of 50 tissues was made to Rp.1,000 Rp.1,350.
Among the celebrities recruited to support and invest in the company were the soap opera actresses Novita Sari (52) and Nana Khairina (34) and actor Rizal Jibran (37). Do not worry if you've never heard of them.
They were offered various payments and returns, too good to be true. She said Novita mortgaged his home and invested Rp.471 million because it promised a return Rp.200 million per day for 5,000 days.
Rizal said Kamal had promised Rp.22 billion approve now for 1,000 days, but until now had only paid him Rp.5 million. Nana said she was hired as a marketing spokesman for the company and promised tens of millions of rupees per month.
The company website has a photo of Nana captioned:
"sexy actress Nana Khairina expects to invite you to becomea millionaire through tissue How can. it be? "
readers can then click on a link to an article on rimanews.com in which Nana says people who invest millions rp.1 receive Rp.50 million to Rp. 100 billion. Rimanews.com is yet to be taken with nonsense article.
asked whether the promised benefits were too great for a company of fabrics, long-haired Venus said it was found possible on paper. He was attracted to the concept of advertising on tissue packets, because it was "much cheaper than traditional TV ads and billboards." But many ads have never been printed, he said, because Kamal said the advertisements of projects had to be submitted within 10 days.
Netizens showed little sympathy for celebrities, saying they deserved to be scammed to be greedy. "None of them used their brains - how could they expect rp.1 million pay a commission Rp.200,000 per day for 1,000 days," read a comment on Detikcom online news portal
.Celebrities at least realized they had been duped. "At first [Kamal] said he was not multi-level marketing," said Rizal. "But later, the model proved to be like that, and all these actors have also lied and reporting."
Rizal said Kamal had repeatedly broken its promises and refused to discuss the issue with investors, leaving them with no option but to report him to the police.
counsel Kamal accused of fraud under Articles 372 and 378 of the Criminal Code. They also want the accused under the 2014 trade Act and the Act of 2010 on money-laundering.
the company website tissues, which includes photos of a smiling caucasian male, suitable offering a handshake, says the company has "the power to 1 million Indonesians." The site contains long spiels touting the company can save uneducated, and even the physically handicapped, poverty and unemployment.
There are also links to newspaper articles praising the regime. It is even said that the tissues will "help the world go green because they are environmentally friendly" and "contribute to the Indonesian economy." The truth is that Kamal scam will only help Indonesia if it teaches media, politicians and schools to educate people to stop believing in plans to get rich quick fantastic.