Beware, Smooth Loans And Celebrity Wallets Are Proven As Illegal Loans, Victims Are Overdrawn For IDR 1.4 Billion

JAKARTA - The Directorate of Cyber Crime, Bareskrim Polri, revealed the practice of illegal online loans (pinjol) that ensnared hundreds of victims with threatening modes, to the spread of personal data.

The two illegal loan applications in question are Celebrity Wallet and Smooth Loans.

This disclosure began with the police report number LP/B/323/7R/2025/SPKT/Bareskrim Polri dated July 9, 2025 made by one of the victims with the initials HFS

"Based on the results of the examination of the suspects, it has been identified that in total there are 400 customers who have become victims of the two illegal loan applications," said Wadirtipidsiber Bareskrim Polri, KBP Andri Sudarmadi to the media at Bareskrim Polri, South Jakarta, Thursday, November 20.

He revealed that the case began in August 2021, when HFS applied for a loan through an online application by submitting personal data in the form of ID cards and selfies.

Although all loans have been repaid, in November 2022, the victim will again receive terror ranging from short messages, WhatsApp, to family.

"As a result of this terror, sister HFS has again paid online loans many times," said Andri.

Then, the threat peaked again in June 2025, when the victim and his family received harsh and intimidating messages via SMS, WhatsApp, and social media. The perpetrators demanded payment of new debts that the victim had never proposed.

"The total loss suffered by the victim who has paid off the loan but continues to be extorted for loans that are no longer submitted reached around Rp. 1.4 billion," he said.

In the message sent, the perpetrator used harsh words and threatened to spread photos of the victim to all his phone contacts. In fact, said Andri, the perpetrator sent a photo of a naked woman who had been manipulated with the victim's face to pressure the victim to pay.

"The perpetrators threatened and blackmailed the HFS victim using a laptop and cellphone," he added

Furthermore, Andri said that there were seven suspects arrested in this case, they were divided into two clusters.

In the collection cluster, the suspects who were arrested consisted of NEL alias JO who acted as debt collectors of Smooth Loans, SB as the leader debt collector of Smooth Loans, as well as RP and STK who each served as debt collectors and leader debt collectors of Celebrities Wallet.

"Investigators confiscated evidence in the form of 11 cellphones, 46 SIM cards, three laptops, one memory card, and one mobile banking account," he said again.

Meanwhile, in the financing cluster operating through PT Odeo Teknologi Indonesia, the police secured three people, namely IJ who acted as finance, AB as operational manager, and ADS as customer service.

The evidence that was secured from this cluster includes 32 cellphones, 12 SIM cards, nine laptops, nine ATM cards, 11 account books, several internet banking tokens, one EDC machine, and various company documents.

In addition to these arrests, investigators also confiscated funds allegedly related to illegal lending operations, with a value of Rp. 14.28 billion. As well as hunting down two foreign national actors who are suspected of being application developers.

"On behalf of LZ, a foreigner with a background from Smooth Loans, then on behalf of S, is also an anonymous foreigner who comes from a Selebrity Wallet loan," he said.