Business · Companies · 1 hr ago
OJK says scam targeted an 8-year-old and the child’s parents
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority says a scam targeted an 8-year-old in Hong Kong.
The scammer pretended to be the child’s friend on social media and persuaded the child to send private photos.
The scammer then threatened to share the photos unless the parents paid money.
The case shows that online financial scams can affect children as well as adults.
The authority also says most users of online loans and buy-now-pay-later services are from Generation Z. Only about 26% of Gen Z are concerned about the risks of buy-now-pay-later, while 34% of millennials are.
The authority says financial education should start early, and warns that young people need to learn how to manage debt.
Indonesia’s Financial Services Authority said the youngest recorded victim of a financial scam was an 8-year-old child in a case in Hong Kong.
The scammer posed as the child’s friend on social media and asked the child to send personal photos.
The child’s parents were also targeted with extortion threats over the photos.
OJK official Friderica Widyasari Dewi said the case highlights the importance of financial education from an early age.
- Who
- An 8-year-old child and the child’s parents were targeted.
- What
- A scammer posed as the child’s friend online, obtained personal photos and threatened to publish them unless the parents paid.
- When
- Not stated.
- Where
- Hong Kong.
- Why
- The scammer sought money from the child’s parents by threatening to share the child’s photos.
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- Youngest victim
- 8 years old
- Location of case
- Hong Kong
- Scam channel
- Social media
- Requested material
- Personal photos of the child
- Threat
- The parents were told the photos would be shared unless they paid
- Event
- OJK Digiclass, Jakarta, 27 October 2026
What people are saying
The youngest child to be scammed in financial services was 8 years old.
They communicated with someone they thought was their friend, then were asked to send personal photos.
In the end, the parents were extorted: if they did not send a certain amount of money, the photos would be spread.