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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Malang, East Java: the head of the financial regulator's local office says a resident lost Rp80 million after a caller used an AI clone of a close friend's voice to ask for a transfer

Malang Post reported on 2 October 2026 that the head of the Malang office of Indonesia's Financial Services Authority (OJK), speaking on a Radio City Guide FM talk show that day, described the latest case to befall a resident of Malang. According to the report, the perpetrator used AI to clone the voice of the victim's close friend very precisely and called the victim from a new number to ask for a money transfer; the victim believed the voice and lost Rp80 million. No date, police report or arrest is given. The account is the OJK official's as reported by one outlet; the call was not heard and the victim is not identified.

AI system
Unidentified voice-cloning tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
2 October 2026
Event location
Indonesia
What the AI did
Communicated with the person · Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Financial Loss
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Finance · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
2 claims: 2 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: AI used to clone the voice of the victim's close friend for a fraudulent call, according to the head of OJK Malang as reported (tool not identified)

What Happened

The account. Malang Post (2 October 2026) reports that on a Radio City Guide FM talk show that Friday, the head of OJK Malang set out the latest case, which befell a resident of Malang. The victim was deceived and suffered a material loss of Rp80 million. The perpetrator used AI technology to clone the voice of the victim's close friend very precisely and then contacted the victim from a new number. The official is quoted describing the method: perpetrators study a target's habits and conversation patterns on social media, clone the voice of someone close with AI and call to ask for a transfer, and the victim fully believed it because the voice was identical.

Context in the same report. The official also gave national and local figures (more than 1,300 AI-based fraud cases nationally in 2026, about 2,300 complaints to OJK Malang from January to July 2026, and Rp771.2 billion frozen by the Indonesia Anti-Scam Centre). Those figures are not part of this case.

Limits. This rests on one outlet's report of an official's on-air remarks. The report gives no date, platform, police report or arrest, does not identify the victim and does not say how the AI clone was established. Searches of Google News in Indonesian found no second report.

Reported harm

A Malang resident lost Rp80 million after a caller used an AI-cloned voice of the resident's close friend to ask for a transfer, according to the head of OJK Malang as reported by Malang Post.

Outcome

Unknown

The case was described publicly by the head of OJK Malang on a radio talk show on 2 October 2026 and reported by Malang Post. No police report, arrest, recovery or regulatory action for this case is reported.

What remains unknown

  • When the call and the transfer happened.
  • Whether the victim reported it to police, the bank or OJK, and whether any money was recovered.
  • How the voice was established to be an AI clone and which tool was used.
  • The platform or phone service used for the call.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Malang Post reports the head of OJK Malang as saying the perpetrator used AI to clone the voice of the victim's close friend and called the victim in that voice. The AI-generated voice was the channel through which the victim was spoken to (communicated_with), and it impersonated the friend (depicted_or_impersonated). No forensic detail, recording or tool is reported.

2 claims: 2 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the head of OJK Malang, a resident of Malang lost Rp80 million after the perpetrator used AI to clone the voice of the resident's close friend and called from a new number to ask for a transfer.

Causal attribution. The official's account as reported by one outlet; the basis for identifying the voice as an AI clone is not given.

  • malang-post.com(opens in new tab) supports · Indonesian
    'membeberkan kasus terbaru yang menimpa seorang warga di Malang'; 'Korban terkecoh hingga menderita kerugian materiil mencapai Rp80 juta'; 'Pelaku memanfaatkan teknologi AI untuk mengkloning atau menirukan suara teman dekat korban secara sangat presisi, lalu menghubungi korban menggunakan nomor baru'
Reported The official said the perpetrator called to ask for a money transfer and the victim believed the voice because it sounded identical.

Causal attribution. The official's quoted description, which is partly phrased as a general method; attributed to the official.

  • malang-post.com(opens in new tab) supports · Indonesian
    'Begitu suara orang terdekatnya berhasil dikloning dengan AI, pelaku menghubungi korban untuk meminta transfer uang'; 'Korban percaya penuh karena suaranya identik'

Sources

1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in Indonesian on 2026-10-03 (HTTP 200). Researcher translation. Reports the OJK Malang head's remarks on a Radio City Guide FM talk show; the broadcast itself was not heard. Applies to s1.

Event countries: Indonesia. Affected-person countries: Indonesia. Court countries: Unknown.

The official describes the case as one that befell a resident of Malang, East Java, Indonesia (Malang Post). No court proceeding is reported.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-03: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core case: an AI-cloned voice impersonating a friend was used to speak to a person and obtain Rp80 million, according to a named regulator official as reported by one outlet. The victim is unidentified in the source; no detail beyond the official's account is added.

People described

A resident of Malang, East Java (not identified in the report)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the Malang resident who lost Rp80 million (OJK Malang head via Malang Post). The friend whose voice was cloned is not reported to have been harmed and is not counted. Exact 1.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#voice-cloning#impersonation-scam#fraud#east-java#indonesia

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Malang, East Java: the head of the financial regulator's local office says a resident lost Rp80 million after a caller used an AI clone of a close friend's voice to ask for a transfer. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-malang-ai-cloned-friend-voice-call-rp80-million-loss

BibTeX

@misc{2026_malang_ai_cloned_friend_voice_call_rp80_million_loss,
  title = {Malang, East Java: the head of the financial regulator's local office says a resident lost Rp80 million after a caller used an AI clone of a close friend's voice to ask for a transfer},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-malang-ai-cloned-friend-voice-call-rp80-million-loss}
}

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