Indonesia's digital wave of change has brought about new challenges to the country. Illegal online lending services are gripping the nation's fintech sector. Many innocent people have fallen victim to money-borrowing schemes often leading to tragic results. CGTN's Silkina Ahluwalia spoke to one such victim in Jakarta.

Indonesia is in the middle of a digital revolution. Although it has brought about massive positive changes in the country, there's another world of challenges affecting its people. This woman has requested for her identity to be concealed. She fell prey to one of the country's biggest scams online lending services.

VICTIM "I was approached on YouTube. At first I thought it was too good to be true. But at the time, I was desperate for money and my child was sick so I applied and borrowed money through several applications. It was easy and the money was wired into my account within 15 minutes."

The 15 minutes that led to her nightmare. The money she borrowed was expected to be paid back within a month, but the interest rates were so high, she couldn't afford to pay on time.

VICTIM "I was scared. After a month, the debt collectors began taunting my family members and friends. They also threatened to release my personal data information."

This has become all to common for Indonesians and it's a problem that the Financial Services Authority is working to solve.

TONGAM L. TOBING INVESTMENT ALERT TASK FORCE, FINANCIAL SERVICES AUTHORITY "These illegal services are operating because technology has made it easy for them to create applications. The demand is also huge, there are many people who cannot access loans from banks so they resort to online lending. The people behind these applications are criminals, they want to reap huge amounts of money from the vulnerable."

In April of 2019 alone, the agency along with Indonesia's central bank has shut down 947 illegal peer-to-peer lending services.

YENNY SILVIA SARI SIRAIT PUBLIC INTEREST LAWYER "Online lenders have complete control over interest rates. Many people find it difficult to pay the interest rates, not the amount they borrow, but the daily rates that keeps increasing per day. Our piece of research found the lowest rate is 0.8 percent per day, so you can imagine, in a month that's 24 percent of interest rate."

Currently, the government is doing all they can to educate the public to help them understand the dangers of these services to avoid falling victim to their illegal investment schemes. Silkina Ahluwalia, CGTN, Jakarta.