Manipulated videos of Indonesia’s finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati apparently promising to give away cash to people who “like and share” the clips on social media are a “hoax”, the official’s spokesman told AFP. The original videos in fact show the minister talking about meetings she attended.
“Peace be upon you, I am Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the Minister of Finance of Indonesia. I promise that those who watch this TikTok video will receive assistance,” Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati appears to say in a SnackVideo post on August 24, 2024.
“I will transfer 20 million to you. This is for business capital or paying off debt, remember not to use it for extravagance.”
The video also appears to show the official asking people to “like and share” the post in order to obtain the purported cash handout.
The top-left corner of the video features a clip of people flaunting bundles of cash.
The video was also shared alongside similar claims on TikTok here, here and here.
Another version of the false claim used a different video of Sri Mulyani speaking, seen on TikTok here, here and here.
The minister appears to make the same offer of free cash in these clips, with an identical reminder to use the money for “business capital or paying off debt” and not “extravagance”.
Users left comments indicating they believed the handout was genuine.
“I need to pay off a debt, Mrs. Sri Mulyani,” said one user.
“Mrs. Sri, I want it,” said another.
However, the videos are “hoaxes”, said Yustinus Prastowo, spokesman for the finance minister.
“The Ministry of Finance has never implemented such policies or actions. We urge the public not to easily believe in information that cannot be accounted for,” Yustinus told AFP on August 27.
Doctored video
Keyword searches on Google found videos of the finance minister had been altered to add a false audio track.
The first clip used in the false posts corresponds to a video first shared on Sri Mulyani’s official Instagram account on April 30, 2024, in a post summarising her visit to the Saudi capital Riyadh (archived here).
The misused footage matches the Instagram video’s 14-second mark.
In the original video, Sri Mulyani talks about her meeting with the Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud and Islamic Development Bank president Muhammad Al-Jasser.
“We talked about energy security, energy sustainability, and energy affordability. A challenge for how countries around the world can maintain energy supply and access affordably while also jointly protecting the world from carbon dioxide and climate change,” Sri Mulyani said in the video.
At no point in the video does she mention distributing cash or financial aid.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the manipulated video (left) and Sri Mulyani’s Instagram post (right):
The second video used in the false posts was also taken from the minister’s official Instagram page, from a vlog on May 4, 2024 about her visit to Tbilisi, Georgia to attend a meeting between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea — known as ASEAN Plus Three — as well as the Asian Development Bank annual meeting (archived here).
“Much of the important discussion today is about how ASEAN Plus Three addresses global economic developments and particularly geopolitical tensions that will affect the performance of the ASEAN Plus Three economies,” she says in the video.
“We also discussed financial safety nets, including the Chiang Mai Initiative, which is being enhanced with new instruments.”
She does not mention any cash giveaways.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the altered video (left) and Sri Mulyani’s Instagram post (right):
Meanwhile, reverse image searches on Google found the clip of people holding cash inserted into the video of the minister was shared in a YouTube video purporting that the money was made in “less than three hours of work”.
The video does not mention the Indonesian finance minister.
Similar manipulated scam videos promising cash handouts have targeted other Indonesian politicians, including president-elect Prabowo Subianto and President Joko Widodo.