Illegal Online Loans Are Rampant In The Country, What Are The Modes?

Illustration (Pixabay)

JAKARTA - The existence of illegal online loan services or loans in the country is very widespread. In fact, disturbing the community. This is because there are not a few reports of people claiming to have been harmed by using illegal loan services. In fact, as of July 2021, there have been 3,365 illegal lending entities whose operations have been discontinued.

Then, what is the cause of the rise of illegal lending and borrowing in the country? 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 them is because of the ease of accessing applications. "The rise of borrowing is due, first from the perspective of the perpetrators. There is the convenience of making applications, as well as the placement of servers abroad which makes it difficult to track down perpetrators of illegal lending," he 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. So, people are easily ensnared by offers from illegal borrowers. "Second, from people who use loan services. People are easily ensnared, because the level of literacy in the financial services sector is still low. Where people don't know much about the difference between licensed lending and illegal lending," 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.

Illegal borrowing mode

Teten said that illegal loans appeared under the guise of cooperatives. According to Teten, there are five modes used by illegal lenders. One of them is that they provide loans very easily. "Not only to members themselves, but also to the general public who are non-members. Where is the cooperative, only to members," he said. Ministry of Cooperatives. Third, taking the names and logos of cooperatives that do have a permit. Then, continued Teten, asking for data and cellphone contacts to be accessed when installing the application. Fifth, providing loan terms that are not as promised. Teten said that in order not to be deceived by illegal loans under the guise of cooperatives, the public can confirm through various means such as checking the number of the cooperative legal entity from the Ministry of Law and Human Rights, including the legality of the business license from the Online Single Submission (OSS). . You can also check with the local MSME Cooperative Service and the Kemenkop UKM through the ODS and NIK systems. "If it is related to fintech peer to peer lending, you can check the system at the Financial Services Authority (OJK) regarding the official fintech list," he said. Teten, if there is no list of pinjol that you are looking for, it means that the loan is illegal. Teten said that this is what the community must continue to do, namely rechecking before using online loan services. According to Teten, the community must also be more vigilant in prioritizing rationality towards lending interest which is indeed higher or unnatural than other financial institutions, as well as research first on the performance profile and cooperative management from credible sources. Teten said that he also reminded that the Kemenkop UKM also opened a public complaint service, one of which was related to illegal loans through the lapor.go.id portal or call center 1500 587. "I think we are targeting this so that people can easily confirm," he said. 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.

Five state institutions agree to eradicate illegal lending

Five ministries and state institutions agreed to eradicate leprosy in Indonesia, this step was marked by the signing of a joint statement. The five ministries/institutions are the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Bank Indonesia (BI), the Indonesian National Police (Polri), the Ministry of Communication and Information of the Republic of Indonesia (Kominfo) and the Ministry of Communication and Information. Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises of the Republic of Indonesia (Kemenkop UKM). The chairman of the OJK Board of Commissioners, Wimboh Santoso, said that in fact the existence of legal P2P lending fintech is needed by the community, especially those who have not been served by formal financial institutions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. , said Wimboh, this condition is actually being used by illegal loan lenders who offer it to the public, especially those with low literacy through several existing platforms. Furthermore, Wimboh said that OJK has so far implemented various policies to eradicate illegal online loans through the Investment Alert Task Force (SWI), including running various educational programs for the public to use fintech lending registered or licensed at OJK and preventing people from taking advantage of illegal online loans. "The Investment Alert Task Force (SWI) with its hard work has followed up on 7128 complaints related to illegal lending with light, medium, and heavy categories. Until July 2021, there have also been 3,365 illegal lending entities whose operations have been stopped," he said in a virtual press conference, Friday, August 20. The important points in the joint statement are to increase public financial literacy, especially in terms of distinguishing between legal and illegal loans. Then, strengthen cooperation between authorities by developing technology applications that can be used together. "Prohibiting banks, non-bank Payment Service Providers (PJP), aggregators, and cooperatives from collaborating or facilitating illegal online loans, and must comply with the principle of recognizing service users (Know). Your Customer) in accordance with applicable laws and regulations," he said. Then, said Wimboh, open access to public complaints. Then, follow up on public complaints in accordance with the authority of each ministry/institution and/or report to the Indonesian National Police for legal proceedings. carry out international cooperation in the context of eradicating illegal cross-border online lending operations," he said. Wimboh said the follow-up to this Joint Statement would be realized in the Cooperation Agreement (PKS) on the Eradication of Illegal Online Loans which would contain steps from each ministry/ministry. "This effort certainly requires the participation of the community in helping to break the chain of illegal online loan traps and only use fintech lending registered with the OJK," he said.