Digital Fraud Emergency: Fighting Illegal Finances, OJK Protects The Community From Snaring Scams

JAKARTA - In the midst of rapid digital transformation and easy transactions, Indonesia is now facing big challenges in the financial sector where the threat of digital fraud or scams is increasingly stalking the public.

In fact, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) calls the current condition a 'digital fraud emergency' because thousands of reports come in every day.

Scam Emergency, Hazard Signal In The Digital Age

OJK continues to strengthen collaborative steps with the Illegal Financial Activity Handling Task Force (Satgas PASTI) in fighting the rise of illegal financial practices that harm the community.

Head of the OJK Protection Department, Rudy Agus Purnomo Raharjo, revealed that since the establishment of the Indonesia Anti Scam Center (IASC) in November 2024 until the end of September 2025, there were an average of 874 reports of digital fraud cases per day.

"In our fraud, I think this is already vigilant, be alert to scams. It's a scam emergency, it's a fraud emergency. Just imagine, every day if we look at it, 900-1,000 people have reported to IASC," he said in the media gathering, quoted on Sunday, October 19.

The IASC recorded a total of 299 thousand reports received, with more than 487,000 suspicious accounts identified and 94,344 accounts blocked as a follow-up to the report.

In a repressive effort, the OJK together with the PASTI Task Force have suspended activities of 1,840 illegal financial entities, consisting of 1,556 illegal online loans and 284 fraudulent investments operating through various digital platforms.

Until now, the PASTI Task Force has also received 17,531 public complaints, including 13,999 reports related to illegal online loans and 3,532 reports related to illegal investments.

In addition, the OJK noted that public losses due to the scam reached Rp7 trillion in the period from November 22, 2024 to October 16, 2025. However, around Rp376.8 billion of them were successfully blocked as a result of follow-up and cooperation with banking institutions and law enforcement authorities.

Chief Executive of the Behavior Supervisory of Financial, Education and Consumer Protection Business Actors, OJK Friderica Widyasari Dewi, said that compared to other countries, the frequency of scam reports in Indonesia is high, which in the period from November 22, 2024 to September 30, 2025, recorded 274,722 reports with an average of 874 cases per day.

"Well, the value of the loss is yes, indeed, as in Singapore, the report may be one-fifth of us, but the loss rate is much greater, in us Rp. 6.1 trillion per day, it has reached Rp. 7 trillion. Then the report is flat, friends can see the average report, in Indonesia it's 874 reports per day, this is extraordinary compared to other countries, which are mostly yes, 140 per day, 115 per day and so on," he said.

Friderica explained, in nominal terms, Indonesia's losses were still lower than Singapore or Hong Kong.

He gave an example, such as Singapore, although it only recorded around 51,501 reports, the value of losses borne by the country was much greater, namely Rp13.97 trillion, with an average of 140 reports per day.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, throughout 2024 to June 2025, there were 65,240 reports of financial fraud, with a total loss of around Rp27.01 trillion and funds saved of Rp4.84 trillion. The average report in the country is 115 per day.

Meanwhile, Canada recorded 138,197 cases, with a loss value of IDR 15.21 trillion. Of this amount, around IDR 325 billion funds were successfully blocked and received around 217 reports every day.

Build Financial Resilience Via Literacy And Inclusion

In addition to law enforcement, OJK places financial education and literacy as the main strategy in minimizing public losses. Through the 2025 Financial Inclusion Month (BIK) annual program, emphasizing the importance of equitable financial access throughout Indonesia.

This program is OJK's effort to encourage the public to be more financially literate and have wider access to formal financial services.

Friderica said that financial inclusion is one of the keys in reducing poverty and income inequality.

According to him, this is realized through increasing accessibility and affordability to formal financial products and services that are in accordance with the needs of the community.

"Essentially, this financial inclusion aims to reduce poverty and also income inequality by ensuring accessibility, affordability to formal financial products and services for each individual," he said.

He explained that the current national financial literacy rate reached 66.46 percent, while financial inclusion was at 80 percent.

However, equitable distribution is still a major challenge, especially in rural areas and remote areas.

To overcome this, OJK cooperates with various parties, including the Regional Financial Access Acceleration Team (TPAKD), universities, and local communities.

In Purwokerto, for example, a Financial Literacy Team has been formed involving 25 volunteers from students and the community. In two months, this team has held 56 educational activities and reached more than 2,500 participants.

In addition, OJK also has Inclusive Financial Inclusion Village (IKI) programs in several areas such as Banyumas, Purbalingga, and Purwokerto, to strengthen village community access to formal financial services.

Encourage Legal And Affordable Financing Access

In addition to fighting illegal finance, OJK is also trying to pave the way for low-income people to enjoy healthy and fair access to financing. One of them is through collaboration with BP Tapera, to help more than 100,000 prospective debtors who are constrained by the SLIK system in applying for Home Ownership Loans (KPR).

Friderica insists that SLIK should not be used as the only reference for banks in assessing credit eligibility.

He also explained that banks are still allowed to provide loans even though there are indications of non-current collectivity from related customers.

"This means that there is a bad collectivity if the bank wants to give it, please. Stay with the risk management that has been taken into account by them. So there has been a very clear appeal that it is not a determinant, so it is all returned to the banking sector," he said.

In addition, OJK also challenged Financial Services Business Actors (PUJK) to provide lower interest financing and a faster process than illegal loans.

This step is expected to be a solution so that people are not caught in the practice of illegal moneylenders or borrowing.

Synergy For A Smarter Financial Indonesia

Simultaneous efforts between law enforcement against illegal finance and increasing literacy and financial inclusion show an increasingly integrated policy direction between OJK, financial institutions, and the public in fighting illegal finance and building a healthy financial ecosystem.

Through this step, OJK is committed to creating people who are more protected, smarter financially, and more empowered in managing personal finances.

Friderica added that this step is an implementation of the OJK Law and Law Number 4 of 2023 concerning the Development and Strengthening of the Financial Sector (P2SK).