Rising Financial Fraud During Ramadan 2026, Beware of the Tactics

The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) has recorded an uptick in fraud during Ramadan this year compared with the previous year. Friderica Widyasari Dewi, Executive Director for Supervisory Conduct of Financial Service Providers, Education and Consumer Protection at OJK, said that they had received 13,130 reports of fraud involving 22,593 accounts during the first 10 days of Ramadan 2026. ‘We can see that the trend has increased compared with before the fasting month, and also compared with the first 10 days of Ramadan in 2025,’ the official, commonly known as Kiki, said at OJK’s February 2026 RDKB press conference at its Jakarta office on Tuesday 3 March 2026. Friderica explained that fraud in online shopping and investments has become one of the common modalities used. Offers of Lebaran needs such as clothing, accessories, and other Hari Raya items are often exploited by perpetrators to trap victims. Usually, victims, mainly housewives, are lured by promises of promotions or low prices that end in losses after payment. ‘So we are anticipating that there is a lot of fraud in online shopping and online trading,’ said Kiki. ‘They can know where we shop sometimes; we receive gifts and other things,’ she added.