OJK Warns Public to Beware of Scams Involving Watching Ads and Chinese Dramas
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) is continuing its efforts to eradicate illegal financial activities. The Chief Executive of Supervision of Financial Service Business Conduct, Education, and Consumer Protection at OJK, Dicky Kartikoyono, revealed that from 1 January to 20 May 2026, the OJK had received 17,105 complaints regarding illegal entities. “Of that total, 14,380 complaints were about illegal online loans, 2,601 were related to illegal investments, and 124 complaints concerned illegal pawnbroking,” he stated during a virtual press conference on Friday (5/6/2026).
He explained that the OJK, through the PASTI Task Force, followed up on these complaints by shutting down 951 illegal online lending entities, 8 illegal investment offerings, and 1 other illegal financial activity across various websites and applications that had the potential to harm the public. Throughout May 2026, the PASTI Task Force halted business activities employing various modus operandi. Fraud was also perpetrated by foreign parties suspected of conducting scams through impersonation and offering IPO share investments.
Furthermore, the public is urged to be wary of other fraudulent schemes, such as one where victims are assigned tasks to watch Chinese drama films and purchase film copyrights in order to obtain profits. Another scam involves impersonation and a scheme to create e-commerce accounts and deposit funds to earn commissions. Additionally, there is fraud conducted through impersonation and offering tasks to watch advertisements, alongside fictitious project financing. There are also scams involving crypto investment through copy trading schemes.
As part of enforcing consumer protection regulations, the OJK has issued written warnings and or administrative sanctions, comprising 48 written warnings to 44 Financial Services Business Actors (PUJK), 5 written instructions to 5 PUJK, and 17 fines to 15 PUJK. Meanwhile, during the same period, from the perspective of PUJK market conduct, the OJK has imposed 17 administrative sanctions in the form of written warnings and 11 administrative sanctions in the form of fines.