Disturbing The Public, The National Police Chief Sigit Orders Not Firmly On Illegal Online Loans

National Police Chief General Listyo Sigit Prabowo (Photo: Police Public Relations)

JAKARTA - The National Police Chief, General Listyo Sigit Prabowo, has instructed all police officers to take firm action against illegal online loan providers (Pinjol), or peer to peer lending (fintech P2P lending) financial technology that has harmed the public.

This decisive action, said Sigit, was also a direct instruction from Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who paid special attention to Pinjol's crime. This is because it has harmed the community, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

"Illegal Pinjol crime is very detrimental to the community, so special handling steps are needed. Carry out eradication efforts with Pre-emptive, Preventive and Repressive strategies," said Sigit in briefing the Regional Police through Vicon at the National Police Headquarters, Jakarta, reported by Antara, Tuesday, October 12. .

Pinjol criminals, continued Sigit, often provide promotions or offers that make people tempted to use these services. Thus, this is one of the causes of the many victims of Pinjol.

"It must be handled immediately to provide protection to the community," said Sigit.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic situation, according to Sigit, Pinjol organizers also took advantage of the situation of the people whose economy was affected. So, many residents are tempted to use illegal Pinjol services.

In fact, said Sigit, illegal Pinjol is very detrimental to the community, because the victim's personal data will be used by criminals if they are late in paying or unable to pay off their loans. Even more sad, Sigit said, there were several cases of suicide because they could not afford the large interest from the illegal Pinjol.

"Many collections were also found accompanied by threats. In some cases, victims were found to commit suicide due to the accumulating interest and not paying," said the former Banten Police Chief.

To note, until October 2021, the National Police had received as many as 370 police reports related to the illegal Pinjol crime. Of that number, 91 of them have been completed, 278 are in the investigation process and three stages of investigation.

Therefore, in terms of Pre-Emtif, Sigit emphasized to all his staff to actively carry out education and socialization as well as digital literacy to the public about the dangers of using illegal Pinjol services. Then, encouraging Ministries/Institutions to renew the regulation on the Next Pinjol on the Preventive side, Sigit asked his staff to carry out cyber patrols on social media. Coordinate with Ministries/Agencies in limiting the space for financial transactions and the use of illegal hardware.

"Repressive, carry out law enforcement by forming a task force for handling illegal Pinjol in coordination with relevant stakeholders. Create a post for receiving reports and complaints and coordinating and assisting in every case handling," said Sigit.

In this regard, the National Police has collaborated on eradicating illegal online loans with OJK, Bank Indonesia, the Ministry of Communication and Information, and the Ministry of Cooperatives and MSMEs.