TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsIndonesia lost Rp 9.1 trillion to online fraud, report suggests
Most digital fraud, which ranges from fraudulent investment to love scams, flourishes in Indonesia due to lagging progress from authorities in fighting the scammers who are relatively quicker to adapt and innovate, experts suggested.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
An illustration of online scams (Shutterstock/NONGASIMO)
I
ndonesia has suffered an estimated total loss from online scams of around Rp 9.1 trillion (US$542 million), according to a recent report that claimed the country is facing a “digital fraud” emergency.
The report, issued by the Indonesian Anti-Slander Society (Mafindo) on Tuesday, is based on 432,637 reports received by the Indonesia Anti Scam Center (IASC) between November 2024 and January. IASC is a collaborative initiative between a task force led by the Financial Services Authority (OJK) and banks, e-commerce platforms and other financial firms.
A separate survey conducted by Mafindo with 179 respondents based in five cities across the country found that most of the digital scams took place on WhatsApp messaging application.
The schemes ranged from fraudulent investment and lottery, fake job offers, online marketplace frauds and love scams. The wide range of scams launched against victims highlighted the need to have different tactics which may complicate broad-based prevention efforts, Mafindo wrote in the report.
“The root of the problem is not only the literacy level, but also discrepancies in the existing ecosystem including regulatory gaps, lack of tools to reduce the risk of losses due to scams and poor coordination among stakeholders. All create ample space for scammers to operate,” Mafindo chair Septiaji Eko Nugroho said on Thursday.
He added improvements in Indonesia’s digital security infrastructure have lagged behind the rapid evolution of fraud networks.
