An Indonesian woman who went to great lengths to impersonate a man and even married another woman was recently detained by police after “his” wife alerted authorities about the deception.

40-year-old Surwati, who like most Indonesian goes by a single name, admitted to falsifying her identity and impersonating a man. She had taken the name Muhamad Efendi Saputra and told people “he” was a police officer. Her male impersonating skills were apparently stellar because she managed to full everybody and even convinced a woman into marriage. After a whirlwind romance lasting a couple of months, Muhamad married 25-year-old Heniyati in a ceremony on Java island. To avoid raising any suspicions, Surwati reportedly hired a number of people to pose as relatives of her male alter ego at the wedding.

The young wife learned that Muhamad Efendi Saputra was actually a woman a few months into the marriage. She became suspicious after her husband kept refusing to consummate their union, and after going through his things while he was away, she found an identity card that showed who he really was – a woman named Surwati. “She falsified all the documents for the marriage… My family and I were deceived. We feel so embarrassed,” Heniyati told the Jakarta Post newspaper.

Surwati was arrested after her wife alerted the police, and she admitted to falsifying her identity, a crime that could send her behind bars for seven years. Authorities have yet to uncover the reason behind the woman’s male impersonation, but she did reveal that she had been disappointed by a previous marriage, from which she had a 17-year-old child.

The LGBT community often faces discrimination and a lack of acceptance in Muslim-majority Indonesia, especially in rural areas, which could also explain Surwati’s decision to pose as a man.

This story comes just a few weeks after another unusual impersonation case in China, where a man managed to successfully pose as a woman in order to swindle gullible men of their valuables.

via The Sun Daily