BMKG: Beware of Fake and Illegal Telegram InaEEWS Accounts, System Still in Trial Phase
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics (BMKG) has urged the public to be vigilant against groups, channels, and accounts on the Telegram platform that illegally impersonate the official Indonesia Earthquake Early Warning System (InaEEWS) BMKG.
These unauthorised accounts are using BMKG’s name, logo, and visual attributes to disseminate earthquake early warning information whose accuracy cannot be verified.
Nelly Florida Riama, BMKG’s Deputy for Geophysics, emphasised that the agency has never officially released earthquake early warning information with the parameters circulating on these channels. This is because the InaEEWS system is currently not operating officially and remains in a limited development and testing phase.
“The BMKG InaEEWS system is still in development and limited testing phases, and has not been officially launched to the general public in Indonesia,” Nelly said in Jakarta on Friday (27 February).
BMKG discovered that these Telegram accounts deliberately imitate InaEEWS and BMKG identity and visual attributes. Through this platform, certain parties are fabricating information to illegally build public confidence.
Fachri Radjab, Acting Director of Engineering Seismology, Potential Geophysics, and Time Signals, explained that these illegal accounts deliberately distribute fake earthquake early warning parameters under BMKG’s name, risking triggering mass panic among the public. Additionally, these individuals are misusing real-time InaEEWS data by extracting and redistributing early warning information illegally without proper authorisation from BMKG.
“BMKG affirms that all early warning information on these Telegram channels constitutes disinformation. The agency formally declares that accounts claiming to represent InaEEWS BMKG are fake profiles and not government information channels,” he said.
Furthermore, to date InaEEWS has never engaged in cooperation with any party in disseminating earthquake early warning information.
Additionally, the agency formally ensures it never collects fees or operates paid early warning services, so the public must ignore any requests for charges in any form.
“The actions of those managing these illegal accounts not only damage BMKG’s credibility as the sole authorised official government institution, but also endanger public safety through false information,” he stressed.