OJK: Don't Be Easily Influenced By The Sweet Promises Of Unreasonable Investment

Rupiah (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Financial Services Authority (OJK) invites the public, including students, to be careful in investing and be aware of illegal investment because it can harm people's finances. "Don't be easily influenced by promotions and sweet promises of investment that don't make sense on social media. Investment is not a game or gambling, but requires a deep understanding of fundamentals and financial strategies," said OJK Capital Market Supervisory Chief Executive, Derivative Finance and Carbon Exchange Inarno Djajadi quoting Antara. To be aware of illegal investments, the public needs to recognize the characters and modes of illegal investment. Illegal investment characters include unclear legality, unreasonable profits in quick time, claims without risks (free risk), member get members patterns, and often take advantage of the role of community leaders, public figures or religious figures. Meanwhile, illegal investment modes include a selek of ponzi, falsification of business permits on behalf of OJK, and duplication of the name of the company licensed by OJK. Inarno said the number of capital market investors continues to increase with the majority of investors being dominated by millennials and gen Z under the age of 30 years with a percentage reaching 55 percent.

This growth is facilitated by the development of information technology which is also developing very rapidly. The younger generation utilizes new technology that is increasingly sophisticated and user friendly, and further uses social media to seek and disseminate information, which is one of the basiss for investment decision making. However, according to Inarno, the ease of obtaining this information is also accompanied by the rise of information or news that is doubtful, aka hoax, especially in the investment world, so vigilance of various types of investment offers is needed.

Through socialization and education activities on the capital market, it is hoped that it can increase the level of literacy and financial inclusion of the community and avoid illegal investments. Previously, the Executive Analyst of the Behavior Supervisory Specialist Group for Financial, Education, and Protection Business Actors of OJK Consumers (Financial Services Authority) Irhamsyah said the loss value due to illegal investment was IDR 603.9 billion during 2023. "This increased the loss value record from 2017 to 2023 to IDR 139.67 trillion," he said in Makassar, Friday (9/8). Meanwhile, OJK noted that there were 9,889 Illegal Entity Activities that occurred from 2017 to July 2024. The illegal entity was divided into 1,367 illegal investments, 8,271 illegal online loans (pinjol) and 251 illegal pawns.