OJK shuts down 2,500 illegal online lending companies and blocks debt collectors’ contacts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Financial Services Authority or OJK stopped 2,500 activities of illegal online lending companies from January to October 28, 2024. OJK also requested the blocking of 995 contact numbers of debt collectors.

OJK official Friderica Widyasari Dewi said the move was made by the Task Force to Eradicate Illegal Financial Activities (Satgas Pasti). “We have blocked almost 1,000 bank accounts and phone and WhatsApp contacts,” she said at the Commissioner’s Council Monthly Meeting press conference on Friday, November 1, 2024.

According to her, the task force found the contact numbers of the debt collectors involved illegal loans online who allegedly made threats, intimidation or other illegal acts. The blocking of contact numbers has been forwarded to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs (Komdigi).

Since the beginning of the year, OJK has received 13,860 reports on illegal entities. Of these, 13,020 reports were related to illegal online loans and 840 reports were related to illegal investments. The authority also blocked 242 illegal investment offers on several websites and apps that could harm the public.

Meanwhile, 228 bank accounts or virtual accounts were reported to be involved in illegal financial activities. The OJK has already notified the banks to proceed with the freeze.

To combat these illegal activities, the OJK will soon launch the Anti-Scam Center (ASC) as a centralized platform for handling fraud cases. However, the exact date of its release is yet to be announced. “Task Force Pasti is intensively preparing the systems and infrastructure to be used for ASC,” she added.

ASC will be launched soon to speed up the blocking of fraud accounts and identify perpetrators faster. It is hoped that legal action will be taken and the remaining funds returned to the victims, provided that the victims report promptly through the platform.

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