TikTok account impersonating Indonesian bank promotes 'scam' loan offer

Published on March 11, 2025 at 05:02
3 min read
By Felix NATHANIEL, AFP Indonesia

As economic uncertainty was forecast to dampen the usual surge in consumer spending seen in Muslim-majority Indonesia during the holy month of Ramadan, a TikTok account masquerading as an official account of the private Bank Central Asia falsely claimed the lender was now offering low-interest, collateral-free loans backed by the country's president. The bank's executive vice president told AFP the accounts peddling the "safe and trustworthy" online loans were part of a scam.

"Unsecured loan, low interest, even if you have bad credit, fully covered by BCA, just provide your ID, disbursement takes a maximum of 15-30 minutes," reads an Indonesian-language TikTok post shared on March 4, 2025.

Users who need an online loan are encouraged to send a WhatsApp message to a 12-digit phone number.

The post was shared by an account that uses the name of one of Indonesia's largest private banks, Bank Central Asia (BCA), and has the lender's logo as its profile picture (archived link).

An accompanying video shows a still image of BCA President Director Jahja Setiaatmadja speaking to the press, and superimposed text claims the "safe and trustworthy" online loan offer was "launched" by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Screenshot of the false TikTok post, captured on March 7, 2025

The post surfaced at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which would usually be accompanied by a surge in consumer spending fuelled by traditional gatherings of friends and families (archived link).

But according to the Jakarta Globe newspaper, spending is expected to remain subdued in 2025 as many Indonesians prioritise saving over discretionary purchases (archived link).

Variations of the post purportedly offering collateral-free loans were shared alongside similar claims by the same account.

"I want to apply for a loan of 5 million (rupiah), what are the instalment payments, Sir? I'll pay it back in two years," read one comment on the posts. Another said: "I want to borrow money for school fees and pay off my debt, thank you."

The posts, however, were shared by an imposter TikTok account.

Scam posts

BCA Executive Vice President Hera F. Haryn told AFP the account purportedly offering loans was "a fake account impersonating BCA".

BCA's verified TikTok account, which is linked to from the bank's official website, uses a logo that celebrates the bank's 68th anniversary and uses a different handle.

Screenshot comparison of the imposter TikTok account (left) and the verified BCA TikTok account (right)

"We emphasise that the announcement is part of a scam. BCA has never offered a product like the one stated," Hera added on March 6.

Unlike the purported loans offered by the imposter account that just require an ID card, personal loans offered by BCA have several requirements including specifying applicants have a minimum monthly income (archived link).

A reverse image search of the photo used by the imposter account found it was published by local news organisation Akurat on April 12, 2019 (archived link).

The photo's caption says it shows BCA President Director Jahja Setiaatmadja at an event for the launch of BCA mobile accounts in Jakarta.

AFP has previously debunked similar scams spread by imposter social media accounts here and here.

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