Illegal Online Loans Rise In Indonesia, What Causes It?

ILLUSTRATION/UNSPLASH

JAKARTA - The existence of illegal online loans or loans in the country is very disturbing to the public. Moreover, there are not a few reports of people claiming to have been harmed by using illegal loan services.

Then, what causes pinjol to mushroom in the country?

The Minister of Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (Menkop UKM) Teten Masduki explained the cause of the rise of illegal lending platforms in the country. According to him, one of the reasons is the ease of accessing the application.

"The rise of borrowing is caused, first from the perspective of the perpetrators. It is easy to create applications, as well as the placement of servers abroad, which makes it difficult to track down the perpetrators of this illegal loan," Teten said in a virtual press conference, Friday, August 20.

Not only that, said Teten, illegal borrowing is increasingly widespread because the level of public financial literacy is still low. As a result, it is easy for people to get caught up in offers from illegal lenders.

"Second, from people who use loan services. People are easily trapped, because the level of literacy in the financial services sector is still low. Where people do not know much about the difference between licensed loans and illegal loans," he said.

Teten admits that currently the trend of online lending is increasing due to the declining economic condition of the community since the COVID-19 pandemic. This condition is exploited by individuals who want to take advantage of themselves. In fact, there are illegal loans under the guise of cooperatives.

Teten hopes that there will be cooperation from the media to release information, the full name of the cooperative so that it will be followed up immediately by checking the data and confirming its veracity through the Kemenkop UKM.

"We need more detailed reports so that they can be followed up. Confirmation and clarification of the truth of the news is very important, so that public protection against criminal practices can be minimized and the potential risk of the cooperative's credibility," he explained.

That way, said Teten, it is hoped that there will be no other domino effect that could cause a loss of public trust in cooperatives.

"We are worried that this cooperative has no trust," he said.