The robbery that terrified the Dairi district of North Sumatra (in Indonesia, about 1,400 km northwest of Jakarta) never happened. The “victim” made it up.
Wandaniel Girsang, 24, told police that three masked men beat him with sticks on the Lae Renun river bridge on the night of May 6, 2026, and made off with 297 million rupiah (about US$16,800) of his company’s money. For five weeks, residents believed a gang was at work. On June 10, Dairi police offered a different version: there was no gang. Girsang had gambled his employer’s money away online, then staged the whole thing — including the blows to his own face.
That was the account given by the Dairi police chief, AKBP (police commissioner) Otniel Siahaan, at a June 10, 2026 press conference, as reported by Indonesian outlets Merdeka and Deteksi.
“BEWARE, ROBBERS”
It began with a Facebook post, published the same night.
“Beware of robbery on the Lae Renun bridge, Sumbul Karo,” a resident wrote. “Just 20 minutes ago, a man from Dairi was robbed on the Lae Renun bridge. The motorbike was taken and the victim is injured, at 9 p.m. this Wednesday night, May 6, 2026.” To slip past Facebook’s moderation, the writer masked the sensitive words: “r0bbery,” “v1ctim,” “1njured.”
The post spread within hours. The next morning, regional papers ran the victim’s account. Fear took hold. “Even the villages have become robbers’ dens now,” one resident wrote. Beneath the post, the rumor was already growing: the victim, people said, had been carrying 300 million rupiah (about US$17,000) in cash withdrawn from the bank.
THE TAX MONEY
The real story began on the morning of May 6. Wandaniel Girsang worked for a construction company. His supervisor, Kesar Simanjuntak, asked him to pay the firm’s property tax and transferred 212,750,000 rupiah (about US$12,000) into Girsang’s Bank Mandiri (an Indonesian bank) account.
Girsang did not pay the tax. He had already lost about 50 million rupiah (about US$2,800) to online gambling. He kept playing, now with the company’s money. He moved 128,750,000 rupiah (about US$7,300) from his Mandiri account to a Seabank account, then on to a betting site, according to Deteksi.
His daily transfer limit ran out. Girsang went to the Bank Mandiri branch in Sidikalang (the seat of Dairi district) to withdraw 84 million rupiah (about US$4,700) in cash. While he queued, his boss called about the tax. Girsang said he was at the bank and showed his ticket number. Around 3 p.m. the boss called again. Girsang lied: the bank had already closed, he would pay the next day. By 5 p.m. it was all gone — the 50 million, then the 212 million.
THE BAG IN THE RIVER
Then he invented the robbery. Girsang cut his own face. He damaged his motorbike, a Yamaha RX King, and left bloodstains at the scene. He threw his Eiger backpack — laptop and Oppo phone inside — into the Lae Renun river.
Then he filed a report. Three masked men had beaten him and taken his bag: 297 million rupiah (about US$16,800) of company money, a laptop, two phones, a wallet with 3.5 million in cash (about US$200), his documents and a gold ring. Total declared loss: 343.5 million rupiah (about US$19,400).
“The three men chased me and hit me in the face with a piece of wood,” Girsang told the daily Mistar on May 7, 2026. His father, Arlis Girsang, 64, told the same paper that his son was carrying a large amount of cash “for a project.” The Tigalingga police chief, Iptu (police lieutenant) Parlindungan Lumbantoruan, said at the time that “the matter is still under investigation.”
THE THINGS THAT DID NOT FIT
Investigators noticed details that did not add up. The Eiger bag, reported stolen, was found downstream in the bed of the Lae Renun, laptop and phones still inside. A scrap of cloth on the motorbike’s chain matched a torn rag found in a hut about five meters from the scene.
The bank records finished off the story. The money had never been carried as cash on the night in question. It had already been moved into Girsang’s other accounts.
“The bag described as taken by the robbers was found in the Lae Renun river, with a laptop and several phones,” Otniel Siahaan said, according to Merdeka. Confronted with the evidence, Girsang confessed. “He admitted that he had injured himself to strengthen the robbery scenario,” the police chief added.
UP TO FIVE YEARS
Girsang is now held at the Dairi police station. He is charged with embezzlement and false reporting under Articles 488 and 486 of Indonesia’s new criminal code (Law No. 1 of 2023). He faces up to five years in prison.
The police chief used the press conference to give residents two messages. There are no robbers in Dairi. And do not gamble online.
THE MAY POST, THE JUNE POST
In May, under the robbery warning, residents were afraid. “Soon Sidikalang will become a brutal city,” one wrote. “I pass through here almost every day until midnight, it’s dangerous already,” answered another. “Hopefully the perpetrator will be revealed soon,” added a third.
In June, under the police video revealing the staging, the same community laughed.
“Oh, so this is the one that went viral in Dairi,” wrote one user. “All of Sumatra got played by the victim,” said another. “You could make a film out of this: the victim is the suspect.” One commenter claimed to have smelled the staging from the start: “Where do you see someone withdraw that much cash in Dairi without an escort? He’s not a government official.”
“However clever the squirrel, it always falls in the end,” wrote one last user, beneath the police video.
