Create A Website Page That Uses The Name Of The Ministry Of Social Affairs For PPKM Social Assistance, These Actors Make A Profit Of Rp 1.5 Billion

The Ministry of Social Affairs together with Polda Metro Jaya held a press conference for the perpetrators of spreading social assistance hoaxes at the Metro Jaya Police Headquarters (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos) appreciates Polda Metro Jaya for successfully uncovering the perpetrators of hoax spreaders regarding social assistance (bansos) who used the name of the agency.

"We express our gratitude and strongly support the quick and decisive response from the National Police who are taking law enforcement steps by securing the perpetrators. Hopefully, these law enforcement steps will have a deterrent effect on the perpetrators and other parties from taking similar actions," said the Head of the Public Relations Bureau. The Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia Hasim in a written statement quoted by Antara, Monday, July 19.

The action of the perpetrator with the initials RR was carried out by creating a website page https://subsidippkm.online. Through the link https://subsidippkm.online/pembagi-subsidi/?PPKMjuli#1625647777785, the site has circulated a chain message containing the Rp300,000 PPKM social assistance registration form by answering several questions.

Through a form with the logo of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the registrant is asked to share it with friends via the Whatsapp application, which will then receive a confirmation via SMS.

“The message is a hoax. The Ministry of Social Affairs has never created a web page for registration of recipients of Rp 300,000 social assistance, let alone in the form of chain messages," said Hasim.

RR apparently gets income from advertisements posted on the website page. Since November 2020, pirated websites made by RR have always installed at least two ads every day.

RR earns more than Rp 200 million per month from the two advertisements. So in total from November 2020, he has earned around Rp. 1.5 billion.

The Ministry of Social Affairs has produced messages containing denials that the chain messages are lies or hoaxes through the ministry's official accounts. However, in its development, rebuttal to false news is not enough.

For this reason, the Ministry of Social Affairs through the Legal Bureau made an official report to the Polda Metro Jaya on Thursday, July 8 at the direction of the Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini.

Reports to law enforcement are carried out with consideration that the content is considered to have defamed the Ministry of Social Affairs, which is currently receiving an assignment in the field of social protection for people affected by the pandemic.

"All the energy and focus of the state's attention, including the Ministry of Social Affairs, are now being directed to help ease the burden on people affected by the pandemic. The content is very disturbing and injures the hard efforts in handling the pandemic because it is disturbing and disrupts the public's trust in the government," he said.

Hasim appealed to the public not to play around by providing hoax information, especially related to social assistance (bansos).

In the midst of an emergency, people really need help because they may lose their income or lose their jobs.

“Then there are those who play the public's expectations with fake news. I think this is very disgraceful. The actions of the perpetrators have harmed our collective efforts in the fight against the pandemic and our hard work has eased the burden on society," said Hasim.

The public is expected not to be easily tempted and believe in various information that develops, especially in the realm of cyberspace.

Hasim said if anyone wants to ask for clarification, they can access the official government information channel, they can open the official website of the Ministry of Social Affairs or through the website https://cekbansos.kemensos.go.id/

As an effort to handle the impact of the pandemic, the government through the National Economic Recovery (PEN) provides social protection, one of which is in the form of Cash Social Assistance (BST) to 10 million Beneficiary Families (KPM). Since April 2020, the Ministry of Social Affairs has distributed BST worth IDR 300,000/month through PT Pos Indonesia.

For 2021, BST is distributed from January to April. Then BST was added by two months, namely May and June which were distributed simultaneously in July.

The BST recipients are families registered in the Social Welfare Integrated Data (DTKS) proposed by the local government, from the Directorate General of Social Rehabilitation of the Ministry of Social Affairs, from social welfare institutions or from legal entities.

For his actions, RR was charged with Article 35 Juncto Article 51 Paragraph 1 of Law Number 19 of 2016 concerning Amendments to Law Number 11 of 2008 concerning Information and Electronic Transactions or ITE with a threat of 12 years in prison.