February 26, 2026 | 02:00 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Indonesian Anti-Defamation Society (Mafindo) has reported that Indonesia is in a state of emergency over the growing online scams targeting individuals and the country's digital economy. According to Mafindo's data, scams are growing increasingly advanced due to AI developments, from deepfakes to social engineering.
"The attacks go beyond citizens' basic digital literacy," said Mafindo chair Septiaji Eko Nugroho in a press release received by Tempo on Wednesday, February 25th, 2026. This information was conveyed during a discussion raising the theme 'Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration to Combat Digital Fraud' in Jakarta on Tuesday, February 24, 2026.
Nugroho said citizens' unpreparedness has placed Indonesia at the second-to-last position in the Global Fraud Index 2025. Indonesia falls behind due to regulatory gaps and low literacy, especially in digital security. This is not proportional to the number of perpetrators captured and the cash returned.
As of January 2026, the Indonesia Anti-Scam Center (IASC) received 432,637 public reports or complaints. The total losses from these scams, as documented by the Financial Services Authority (OJK), amounted to Rp9.1 trillion. Meanwhile, the IASC successfully saved up to Rp432 billion.
Mafindo calls for a multi-stakeholder collaboration to address the scam emergency, starting with enhancing the people's digital security.
Mafindo has launched a Policy Brief for Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration to Combat Digital Fraud. The author, Cahya Suryani, stated that they had conducted a survey in five cities at the end of 2025, to examine the root of the problem.
Mafindo has recommended six strategic policy priorities to address the digital scam emergency, starting with the development of a unified one-stop reporting system and regulatory restructuring. The aim is to provide legal certainty for the banking sector and law enforcement agencies.
The group also emphasizes the importance of cross-sectoral coordination in implementing AI-based early warning systems on digital infrastructure. This involves strengthening the verification of mobile user identities and messaging platforms in accordance with the latest regulations. Finally, the government must focus on digital literacy development that emphasizes the mitigation of psychological manipulation from the victim's perspective, in order to restore public trust and expedite response and handling.
"With this approach, the country can prevent and address the potential damage to the national economy and potential erosion to public confidence in digital transformation caused by the online scam emergency," said Cahya.
Mafindo has requested OJK to establish regulations that protect banking customers with features such as Money Lock and Kill Switch. They have also requested the Ministry of Communication and Digital to establish regulations for labeling AI content on social media platforms.
Read: Indonesia Repatriates 1,121 Citizens Allegedly Working as Scammers
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