Millions of Indonesians fall into digital debt trap as spending power wanes

JAKARTA -- Indonesian civil servant Fajar took out his first online loan after seeing a pop-up advert on social media in 2019.

"It said I could get 5 million rupiah in just five minutes," he said. But from that initial loan, just over $310 at December's exchange rate, he ended up paying back nearly triple the amount. "Every month, the repayment amount kept changing, and within six months, I had paid 13 million rupiah for that quick cash."