TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Muliaman D. Hadad said that as many as 430 financial services institutions had questionable permits.
According to Muliaman, 374 of the institutions offer investment products related to gold, foreign exchange, e-money, e-commerce, and hajj pilgrimage. The other 56, Muliaman added, offer investment products in property, commodity, and plantation sectors.
"After conducting researchers, [we found that] their legality is questionable," Muliaman said during an inauguration of the Regional Finance Access Acceleration Team and the West Nusa Tenggara Investment Awareness Taskforce in Mataram on Monday, July 25, 2016.
Data from the West Nusa Tenggara branch of the OJK revealed that investment offers related to the tourism sector promised an investment return of up to 30 percent. As a result, many people were attracted to withdraw their deposits or apply for loans to be invested.
Recent investment frauds in West Nusa Tenggara had caused a substantial amount of financial losses, ranging from Rp 30 million (US$2,300) to Rp 50 million (US$3,800) per victim. The total amount of losses stood at Rp 80 billion (US$6.1 million).
West Nusa Tenggara governor Muhammad Zainul Majdi called on police to take assertive actions against investment scammers.
"Arrest the criminals. The law must be enforced assertively to serve as a shock therapy," Zainul said.
SUPRIYANTHO KHAFID