Beware of Gift Card Fraud in Indonesia: Manipulation Schemes Eroding Business Revenue

As the digital payment and e-commerce sector experiences rapid growth in Indonesia, a hidden threat is quietly eroding the revenues of industry players. Gift card manipulation has become a fraud scheme that silently harms retailers, banks, and loyalty platforms without triggering conventional security alarms. This serious issue was highlighted by Zentara Technologies, a cybersecurity firm based in Jakarta and Singapore, at the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) Europe Conference in Copenhagen. In the international forum, Zentara explained how exploitation schemes targeting stored value products are rampant globally, with Southeast Asia as one of the primary targets. “The most damaging fraud today often does not involve hacking systems. Instead, it targets business processes so that it appears completely normal,” said Regal Star, CEO of Zentara. According to him, many companies remain trapped in the mindset that fraud will trigger standard security alerts. In reality, gift card manipulation is designed to mimic everyday customer activity. The gift card industry in Indonesia is predicted to continue soaring along with the increasing adoption of digital rewards and corporate loyalty programmes. Criminals now exploit the entire lifecycle of a gift card, from production and activation to redemption. One common method involves stealing card details from physical retail racks before the card is purchased. Once a customer activates and loads funds onto the card, the perpetrator immediately drains the balance before the legitimate owner can use it. Zentara’s research identified three main methods that currently pose a global threat to payment systems. Darian Kuswanto, President and Co-Founder of Zentara Technologies, stressed that relying on outdated security systems is highly risky. “A common misconception is equating security with the absence of system breaches. The most significant cases often go undetected because they mimic legitimate transactions,” Darian explained. In closing, Regal Star reminded businesses that the main challenge is understanding what constitutes ‘normal activity’ in depth. In a continuously growing digital economy, granular asset monitoring is key to closing undetected revenue leakage gaps.