Indosat pulled an IM3 ad that equated zakat calls with scam calls after protest

In Ramadhan 2026, IM3 — the consumer brand of Indonesia's Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison — ran out-of-home ads on public transport with an anti-scam message: 'Telpon Ngajak Zakat, Jangan Diangkat! Jangan-jangan Scammer' — calls inviting you to pay zakat, don't answer, it might be a scammer. The campaign was meant to warn about fraud committed in zakat's name, which by 2025 data had risen 34.7%.

POROZ, the association of Indonesian zakat-management organisations, protested on 3 April 2026. Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and POROZ chairman Bukhori Muslim said the ad stigmatised a religious obligation by equating zakat invitations with scamming. The narrative, POROZ argued, would make people doubt the pickup and education services run by official zakat institutions — amil working under Law 23/2011. It demanded a public apology in national media and withdrawal of all campaign materials.

On 4 April 2026 Indosat apologised. Ovidia Nomia, SVP Head of Corporate Communications, said there was never intent to offend religious values or any group, that the message was prompted by rising zakat-named fraud during Ramadhan, and that as a form of responsibility all campaign materials had been pulled and stopped across every channel.