Reflecting On The Winda Earl Case, These Are Tips For Rich Customers To Make Money Safe In The Bank

JAKARTA - E-sports athlete, Winda Lunardi alias Winda Earl and his mother Floletta never thought that the Rp22.8 billion that was deposited in the Maybank Bank account, since 2015 as future savings, simply disappeared. This case can be a lesson for banking customers to be careful about safeguarding their deposits, especially those with large amounts of value.

Initially, this case started when Winda opened an account at Maybank Indonesia in 2014. He visited the Maybank Indonesia branch office in Cipulir, South Jakarta. At that time, Winda was offered by the perpetrator with the initials A who was also the head of the branch to open a deposit in the form of a term account. Because the interest offered is relatively high compared to bank savings products in general, Winda was tempted.

At the beginning of opening the savings account, Winda deposited Rp. 5 billion in two transfers, bringing the total to Rp. 10 billion. This money came from the transfer of his father, Herman Gunardi. Winda also received a checking account sent by Maybank related to money and interest in Winda's account which was reported regularly every month.

In 2016, Ms. Winda, Floletta Lizzy Wiguna also opened a savings book and transferred around IDR 5 billion by her husband to be put into the savings she had just opened. Winda and Floletta always believed that the money they kept was safe. This is evidenced by the existence of a checking account sent from 2015 to December 2019.

However, after entering January 2020, suspicions arose over his savings due to the absence of a checking account sent by Maybank. In February, when Floletta wanted to check and withdraw money from her account, it turned out that there was not enough balance. Even though he was sure that the money still had Rp. 5 billion in that account. After checking again, his account balance was only around Rp. 17 million.

Floletta then immediately contacted Winda to tell her what had happened. As well as checking the contents of the savings in Winda's account, which has been stored around Rp. 15 billion. When checking, it turned out that the balance in Winda's account only left IDR 600,000.

The two of them immediately filed a complaint through the Maybank Branch Office in Mangga Dua. However, feeling dissatisfied that reporting through the branch office would create a lengthy bureaucracy, Winda and Floletta decided to report her loss case to the Maybank Head Office, at Plaza Senayan.

On March 10, Winda and Floletta received a complaint number. However, on the 12th, two days later, a letter arrived stating that this matter had been resolved. To make sure, Winda then called Maybank's call center care, and it was true that Maybank said that this problem had been handled by the internal fraud department.

After obtaining the two information, it does not mean that Winda and her mother's fate has been answered. This case has no clarity. Therefore, on May 8, 2020, Winda made a report at the Police Criminal Investigation Unit.

The case of the loss of money belonging to Winda Earl was only revealed to the public on November 5, when Winda visited the National Police Criminal Investigation Building to find out the progress of the investigation into the case of suspected banking crimes that befell her and her mother, Floletta.

Consumers report to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) if they experience a case related to the financial services industry. Including the case of losing money in banking. Member of the OJK Board of Commissioners for Education and Consumer Protection Tirta Segara said consumers can report complaints to the authorities.

Tirta said that in order to immediately follow up on reported complaints, consumers must submit complete complaint data. He said the authorities would take a maximum of 20 days to follow up.

However, consumers who do report often do not complete the supporting data attachments so they feel disadvantaged because of the lengthy follow-up process.

When a complaining consumer does not provide complete data, OJK must also do a reply letter by asking for additional data from the consumer. The processing also takes even longer depending on the readiness of consumers to complete the complaint data.

As a solution to consumer complaints, the authorities later this year plan to launch a consumer protection portal application. The application can be used starting January 2021.

All complaints about financial service products, bank and non-bank, such as insurance, leasing, fintech, as well as the capital market and other financial service actors under the supervision of the OJK, will be made online and integrated

"We direct consumers to complain using applications, data entering the OJK and also financial services players. Hopefully this will be done earlier this year," he said, quoted from Bisnis.com, Monday, November 23.

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Reflecting on the Winda Earl case, customers who have large deposits in the bank must still be vigilant to avoid problems in the future. The value of deposits in the bank must also pay attention to the level of guarantee made by the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS).

Quoted from his Instagram account, LPS asks customers who have large deposits to pay attention to several things. Moreover, LPS only guarantees deposits of up to IDR 2 billion per customer per bank.

LPS also shared a number of tips for saving money in banks in large amounts. First, it's best to have multiple accounts from different banks. The value of deposits held should also be broken down in each of these accounts according to the LPS deposit guarantee.

Second, print a savings book or check your savings balance regularly. At least, customers must check their savings at least once a month. The goal, if something goes wrong, customers can immediately know and report it.

Finally, do not tell anyone the ATM PIN number, password, and anything related to the security system.

With these tips, it is hoped that cases of loss of funds will not happen again because the customer has taken preventive measures.

Research Director for CORE Indonesia, Piter Abdullah, shared a number of tips for keeping money in a bank safely. First, the public is asked to understand the direction of the bank's business and also the procedures that apply to each bank. So that he can avoid events that can harm him.

According to Piter, customer understanding is important to detect early if something suspicious occurs or violates procedures. As a result, the security of customer money is more secure.

Then, customers are also asked to be more proactive in checking the amount or balance of their savings periodically. This preventive measure is intended to avoid cases of theft of saved money.

"So, try to print a savings book at least once a month or check the balance periodically," he said, as quoted from merdeka.com, Monday, November 23.

Finally, customers are encouraged to be more courageous in reporting to the competent authority if they find an irregularity. For example to the head office of a bank or the Financial Services Authority (OJK) as the regulator.

"Especially if you feel suspicious transactions or bank procedures are wrong," he said.

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