Indonesians baffled by suspicious 2 trillion rupiah ‘donation’

For the past week, the name Akidi Tio and the hashtags #PrankNasional or #NationalPrank have been trending on social media across Indonesia as the country has been gripped by what appears to be a bizarre hoax. It involves a deceased businessman, a now infamous styrofoam board and a suspicious 2 trillion rupiah (US$140 million) donation meant to help with the Covid-19 pandemic response in the city of Palembang, South Sumatra. The strange sequence of events began on July 23, when the South…