Ombudsman Urges People Not To Be Tempted By Investments Offering Super High Results

The Indonesian Ombudsman appealed to the public not to be tempted by investment lure that offers super high returns or interest rates that exceed government provisions regulated by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS). The appeal was conveyed by the Indonesian Ombudsman in response to the case of a number of people who were deceived by former BTN employees who went viral for several days on social media.

"We appeal to the public to be careful with very tempting investment invitations. What is clear is that the offer with very high investment interest is 99.9 percent indicated fraud. So it is better to come to local financial institutions officially and ask them directly, don't be tempted by individual invitations, let alone meetings outside the office," said Member of the Indonesian Ombudsman, Yeka Hendra Fatika after holding a meeting with BTN, OJK, LPS and the Ministry of SOEs, in Jakarta, Wednesday, May 8.

From the results of the confirmation and initial investigation carried out by the Indonesian Ombudsman together with the OJK, the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS), the Ministry of BUMN and BTN, it is known that banks have made a responsible statement to replace it if legally the bank is found guilty and must replace it. The victims take responsibility to the bank while this act is carried out by former bank employees who have now been sentenced by the court to prison terms.

"In this case, what is clear is that I see that the deposit (investment savings) product claimed by the public is not known by BTN, so it is not BTN's product. Especially with interest rates of 10 percent per month. Even though the maximum limit is 4.5 to 5 percent per year," he said.

Yeka also revealed that the people who made complaints to the Ombudsman regarding their lost investment funds in BTN, apparently not from the public did not understand financial literacy.

"Earlier, I also received explanations from OJK and LPS because the deposits are guaranteed by LPS, the maximum limit is 4.5-5 percent per year, now this is 10 percent per month. We also studied whether this reporter is a common community group or not literate financial release, it turns out that he is not. Even this reporter is classified as a society that is very educated and understands very well the business in finance," he said.

On the basis of these findings and it is known that the problematic deposits (investment savings) are not products from BTN, so the position of the Ombudsman, Yeka continued, only ensures that this does not happen again in the future, both in BTN and in other banks.

"Therefore, we ask BTN to mitigate this risk in the future so that it doesn't happen again," he said.

Second, continued Yeka, the Ombudsman also respects the legal process, therefore the Ombudsman sees that the BTN bank is responsible for this issue.

"If later the legal process proves that it is the negligence of the bank, then all of them will be compensated by the state-owned bank. So don't worry about the people who are victims. On the other hand, if the legal process is not proven later, the bank will not replace it because it is purely a mistake from an individual," he said.

Reflecting on this case, the Ombudsman appealed to the public to be more careful with all efforts to lure profit sharing or investment with fantastic profits.

"To the people affected by this problem, the Ombudsman suggested no longer demonstrations at BTN because this is a trust institution, where trust is put forward, if it is still not satisfied with the processes in our BTN, the Ombudsman is ready to provide assistance, please come to the Ombudsman, you may also demo at the Ombudsman. Later we will process according to applicable regulations. BTN is very responsible and there is no need to worry about the community," he concluded.

Meanwhile, on the same occasion, on the Operational and Consumer Experience Director of BTN, Judge Putrantama appreciated the clarification efforts made by the Ombudsman, so that they knew the real problem, not just based on public reports.

BTN itself, continued Hakim, respects the ongoing legal process, where BTN was again reported by people claiming to be victims of BTN products.

"Yang mengaku sebagai korban ini mengaku sebagai nasabah BTN. Jadi ini merupakan proses yang sedang dijalani, maka kami akan menghormati proses hukum yang sedang berjalan sekarang, apa yang terjadi sebesarnya dan apa yang nantinya menjadi hak dan kewajiban yang mengaku nasabah dan juga hak dan kewajiban kami selaku BTN. Saya belum bisa memberikan penjawab yang pasti karena ini masih dalam proses hukum kita ingin ada penegakan hukum yang seadil-ilnya, kami be responsible untuk apapun yang terkait dengan nasabah kami, namanya.

BTN Legal Consultant Roni Hutajulu, who was also present at the meeting, saw from the legal point of view that the police report made by the victims of fraudulent investment who claimed to be BTN customers violated the principle of "Ne Bis In Idem" or not twice the same case could be investigated.

According to Roni, this case had actually been reported by BTN to Polda Metro Jaya in February 2023.

"And based on the report, the legal process has been carried out and has occupied 2 people as suspects, then the case goes up to the court and has received an inkrah decision, namely punishing the 2 people who incidentally were husband and wife, both of them were former bank employees who had been fired by BTN, handed down a decision that found them guilty and had been thrown into prison," he said.

He added that the modus operandi of the suspects was that the victims' money was transferred into their respective investor accounts at BTN, but the opening of the account was not carried out properly according to the procedure for opening a bank account.

"But what happened was that all the customer data was collected to one person, then this one person opened an account, after this account was issued the account book was not handed over to investors but used by himself he held the ATM and all the funds were transferred to his own personal account. That's the mode," he explained.