Money Issues Rise, Hoax Spreader Rush Money Can Be Convicted

JAKARTA - Perpetrators who spread hoaxes and invite the public to withdraw their funds from the bank (rush money) can face criminal threats. Moreover, the perpetrators argued that money had suddenly disappeared when it was saved.

"Those who made this invitation should be punished. Because this invitation is baseless and tends to convey one called a hoax, it was stated earlier that there were funds that were lost, this should be proven. If there is no evidence, the person concerned should be punished," said Segara Institute economist Piter Abdullah quoting Antara.

Piter assessed that the invitation to withdraw money was because the news of the amount of money lost seemed unreasonable. He explained that banks are the most closely monitored business units in Indonesia by the government. Strict supervision is carried out to give confidence to the public in the banking sector.

Since its inception, banking institutions must comply with many rules. In addition, added Piter, banks are also closely monitored by various agencies. In fact, if banks are forced to go bankrupt, there are many rules that must be obeyed.

"Banking institutions are the most supervised. Very regulated. The only business supervised from birth permits until he goes bankrupt is regulated. Which company is that strict? Only banking," he said.

Piter also reminded that there is the potential for spreading fake news or hoaxes from the rush money invitation on social media. He appealed to the public to be vigilant and not to easily believe news that is not necessarily true.

Recently, social media content circulated in the public containing information about lost money in savings and invitations to the public to withdraw funds from Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI).

BRI noted that a number of content that was quite disturbing to the public had similarities, one of which was uploaded by non-credible accounts.

On April 23, 2024, social media accounts (Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook) Rama News (@ramanews) uploaded a video taken from the TikTok widia_political account with the narrative that the incident of BRI customers who lost money was the effect of the election for social assistance attacks. The content is clarified as a hoax.

In the same month, TikTok content @rakyatdotnews and WhatsApp also went viral regarding the case of the disappearance of Rp400 million in Makassar named Sigit Presetya. It turned out that the money was taken by the customer himself and invested in an unofficial party (bodong) to Sigit's close friend who is a former BRI worker named Zul Ilman Amir.

Then on May 3, 2024, the Instagram account @kr1t1k_p3d45 uploaded a video, taken from an old video (in 2023) at portaljtv.com, with the narrative that saving at a bank is not safe due to customer money being "lost".

BRI noted that the viral disappearance of money was an old incident with incomplete information. For example, the video uploaded to the kr1t1k_p3d45 Instagram account on platform X is an incident that occurred on June 12, 2023. After being clarified, the three customers in the video are victims of online fraud crimes (social engineering).

Meanwhile, the information that went viral again on TikTok @rakyatdotnews related to the fraudulent investment case of Rp. 400 million by a customer named Sigit Presetya at BRI Makassar was an incident that occurred on August 29, 2018.

BRI Corporate Secretary Agustya Hendy Bernadi said that content and information regarding money lost at BRI which has recently gone viral on social media until it circulated on WhatsApp cannot be justified.

He said the content was deliberately viralized by irresponsible parties and caused unrest in the community because some of them contained an invitation to withdraw savings from banks.

For the hoax content circulating, BRI also took legal steps against parties who deliberately spread misleading information and could not be justified.

"BRI also takes firm action and takes legal action against related parties, because content contains misleading information, damages BRI's image and has the potential to cause unrest in the community," said Hendy.