Scammers come in all shapes, nationalities and professions. Christopher Linn Shields (35) is a toad-like American expat who scammed his students while employed at an English language school in south Jakarta last year. Colleagues described the pig-faced man as “very charming and super friendly”. That charm was merely a ruse. One day, Shields brought some iPhones and iMacs to the school, claiming he had a brother who worked at an Apple warehouse in the US and could obtain the latest products for extremely low prices. Having no reason to mistrust their friendly teacher, some of the students placed big orders for iPhones, intending to resell them in Indonesia for a profit. Shields collected more than Rp.350 million and promised the goods would arrive within two weeks. But then he failed to show up for work one day and sent a text message to the school, claiming he was returning immediately to America because his grandmother had died. A few hours later, Shields posted a photo on his Facebook account, indicating he was with his boyfriend at Lake Toba in North Sumatra. Not very bright. Police and Immigration were alerted but Shields managed to leave the country in January 2013. He was later reported to be in Hong Kong. It subsequently emerged he had pulled a similar scam in the Philippines, claiming his mother owned an Apple shop and could supply discounted products. Shields declined to respond to a request for his side of the story.
Beware the Bule Conman | Jakarta Expat
Beware the Bule Conman | Jakarta Expat
