OJK: Losses Due To Fraudulent Investments Reached IDR 139.67 Trillion In 2017-2023

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Secretariat of the Task Force for the Eradication of Illegal Financial Activities (Setgas Pasti) of the Financial Services Authority (OJK) Hudiyanto conveyed that the losses of the Indonesian people due to illegal investments (bullying investments) reached Rp139.67 trillion from 2017 to 2023.

"The total value of public losses due to illegal investment in 2017 to 2023 reached Rp139.67 trillion," said Hudiyanto while attending the release of 238 Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) for intergovernmental programs to South Korea in Jakarta, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, March 26.

He revealed that the OJK Task Force must always receive reports from people who are entangled in fraudulent investments every day, which of course the OJK has followed up.

Along with that, he continued, OJK together with 15 other institutions including the police continued to pursue and enforce the law against the perpetrators, and as a result there were 1,218 fraudulent investment entities that had been blocked until early 2024.

"We work every day, blocking, chasing, arresting. This task force has 16 institutions, including the prosecutor's office and the police, including the PPATK (Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center)," said Hudiyanto.

According to him, many of the Indonesian people still have minimal knowledge of financial management, so that investment actors are often used for fraudulent purposes to seek personal gain.

On the other hand, he continued, fraudulent investment actors have a system that is quite difficult to track, so officers often have to work extra hard to uncover the perpetrators.

"For example, within 5 minutes the money you transferred was gone, on average they had five to six account escapes. That's what is called a criminal. Have a system, have a bank account, they all have," said Hudiyanto.

On this occasion, Hudiyanto said that Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) are often one of the targets of fraudulent investment actors who know that PMI has a lot of money after working for years abroad.

"Because they (PMI) have a salary, then because they are still young they do not understand about financial products, of course it will be the target of both domestic and foreign parties," said Hudiyanto.

He said, not a few of the PMIs have been entangled in the lure of fraudulent investment actors, who roam both at home and abroad.

"It may even be that they have been targeted back from there, at the airport they have been targeted, these children already have money but they don't understand," said Hudiyanto.