Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority (OJK) is accelerating cross-border cooperation to combat financial fraud, noting that reports of scams in the local financial sector have surpassed 530,000 cases.

The regulator outlined its strategy during a joint Indonesia-Australia scam workshop in Jakarta, which brought together agencies from both countries to address the growing scale of transnational fraud.

“Scams move very quickly, evolve on a large scale, and exploit gaps between systems and cross-border jurisdictions,”

said Dicky Kartikoyono, Chief Executive of Financial Services Business Conduct Supervision, Education, and Consumer Protection at OJK.

Kartikoyono added that cross-border cooperation is a necessity as fraud has evolved into a systemic risk that threatens public trust in the broader financial ecosystem.

To manage the surge in cases, OJK is coordinating with the PASTI Task Force and the newly formed Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre (IASC).

The agencies have improved their response times for blocking accounts, blacklisting phone numbers, and shutting down fraudulent websites.

The regulator relies on four main pillars to handle financial transaction fraud, consisting of prevention, detection, disruption, and enforcement.

Prevention efforts focus on consumer education and equipping frontline staff with better technology to spot suspicious activity.

For detection, OJK is pushing financial institutions to adopt AI and early warning systems.

The disruption phase involves working with stakeholders to freeze accounts and halt fund transfers, while enforcement focuses on collaborating with police to prosecute offenders.

The three-day Jakarta workshop included representatives from the Australian Treasury, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Bank Indonesia, and local telecom and banking operators.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Indonesia, based on image by onlyeps55 via Magnific