Risk scorecard
Each area is scored 0 (clean) to 10 (worst). Higher means more risk.
Regulation
8/10 · CriticalHeld a genuine onshore BAPPEBTI licence for about 18 years, but it has been withdrawn and the firm is absent from the current licensed register, so there is no valid authorisation today.
Identity & transparency
4/10 · ModerateHistorically transparent, with a real legal entity, a registered address matching the regulator's record and more than 30 named licensed representatives, but there is now no reachable website or contact point for clients with claims.
Withdrawals & conduct
7/10 · HighOne large, specific and unresolved fund-integrity case with named clients, amounts, dates and a police report, set against the fact that earlier withdrawals were genuinely paid and no wider pattern of denials surfaced.
Reputation
7/10 · HighSerious Indonesian press coverage alleging misappropriation of client funds, with the only counterweight being 12 short generic five-star reviews that look planted, and no regulator warning anywhere.
Website claims
3/10 · LowIts published licence numbers, founding year and addresses were all accurate and independently verifiable, with only mild self-promotion and no external register verification link.
Operational history
6/10 · HighA long track record of roughly 18 to 19 years evidenced by government licence records and continuous archived site history under one brand, tempered by the licence withdrawal and the abrupt shutdown.
Who they are
A quick desk file on the company behind the brand.
- Brand: Nine Stars Futures (NSF), motto 'Your Trustworthy Investment'
- Legal entity: PT. Nine Stars Futures
- Registered: Jl. Jenderal Sudirman No. 99, Semarang 50141, Central Java, Indonesia, as recorded on BAPPEBTI's own register. A branch operated from Grand Slipi Tower, West Jakarta.
- Website: www.ninestars.co.id, which no longer resolves. The domain has been deleted.
- Only licence: BAPPEBTI futures brokerage licence 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006, now revoked. It also claimed Jakarta Futures Exchange membership SPAB-126/BBJ/05/05 and clearing membership 65/AK-KBI/XII/2008.
- Offers: forex, gold and commodities, and US index contracts, on MetaTrader
- Not accepted: no client can be accepted now. The licence is withdrawn and there is no working website or contact point.
- Age claim: founded 2005, which the government records support. The licence dates from August 2006 and the exchange approval from 2005.
- Group claim: described itself as part of Nine Stars Group, alongside shipping, property, coal and heavy-equipment businesses
Regulation
Who really oversees this broker, and what each licence is worth to you.
Proof of regulation on an official register: No
We could not confirm this broker on any genuine regulator’s register.
Licences the broker publishes
BAPPEBTI (Badan Pengawas Perdagangan Berjangka Komoditi)
BBJ / Jakarta Futures Exchange (Bursa Berjangka Jakarta)
KBI (Kliring Berjangka Indonesia)
Why we reached this verdict
How the evidence adds up.
We rate this high risk and unverified rather than a confirmed scam. The reason is that the two things we can prove are serious, but they do not add up to proof of a deliberate fraud.
- The licence is gone, from the regulator's own record. BAPPEBTI publishes a register titled 'Pialang Berjangka Yang Izinnya Dicabut', meaning futures brokers whose licences have been withdrawn. PT. NINE STARS FUTURES is on it, with licence number 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006 and the Semarang address that matches every other record we found. We also read the complete list of 67 firms still licensed and Nine Stars is absent. So there is no valid Indonesian licence behind this name today.
- BAPPEBTI does not publish the reason. That register also contains firms that simply wound down and handed their licences back. So the revocation on its own tells us the firm may no longer operate, not why.
- One large, well-documented client-fund case. Indonesian media reported in January 2022 that two clients, named as Muhammad Danil and Ramli, paid a total of about 8.45 billion rupiah into the company's bank account from March 2019. Both did receive real withdrawals at first, 600 million and 500 million rupiah. By November 2020 they were told the remaining balances were 14 million and 13 million rupiah. The account of what happened is specific: a branch manager took the clients' personal access password, which the company's own rules forbade, and traded the accounts. A legal demand was served on the Semarang head office in April 2021 with no resolution, and a police report was filed in West Jakarta. The company publicly denied any fraud.
- The company has disappeared. ninestars.co.id no longer exists in the domain system, and the last archived copy from December 2024 was already a bare server directory rather than a website. A firm that shuts down this way leaves anyone with an open claim no route to pursue it.
- What we did not find matters too. No regulator anywhere warns about this firm. There is no clone, no copied licence number, no invented regulator and no typosquatted domain. The licence numbers on its old website match the regulator's records exactly, which is the opposite of what a fake broker does.
- On the claimed history. The 'since 2005' claim is supported by government records, not just marketing, so we treat the roughly 18 to 19 year track record as genuine. The young-broker rule does not apply here. We could not put an exact date on either the company's incorporation or the domain's registration, because the Indonesian company registry is not publicly searchable and the domain records were destroyed along with the domain, so the age figure rests on the licence and archive evidence.
- The positive reviews carry no weight. The only review page we found shows 12 short, uniformly positive entries under names that do not fit an Indonesian retail client base. That pattern is not evidence of good conduct.
Two serious findings, one regulator action of undisclosed cause and one unresolved fund case, put this well above an ordinary risk warning but short of a proven fraud.
Risk-profile adjustment: the evidence-based score was 57%. It is presented as 65% because track record under 3 years (age could not be established), which our policy treats as elevated risk regardless of how little was found against this broker.
Evidence ledger
Every finding, with its source and how strongly it points.
E1BAPPEBTI's own register, headed 'Pialang Berjangka Yang Izinnya Dicabut' meaning futures brokers whose licences have been withdrawn, lists PT. NINE STARS FUTURES with licence 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006 at Jl. Jenderal Sudirman No. 99, Semarang 50141, telephone (024) 760 6111. The firm therefore has no valid Indonesian futures licence.
E2We read the complete BAPPEBTI list of currently licensed futures brokers, all 67 entries including the recorded former names of renamed firms. Nine Stars Futures does not appear under any spelling. This confirms the same fact as the revocation rather than adding a separate one.
E3An Indonesian news report dated 11 January 2022 sets out that two clients from Banda Aceh, named as Muhammad Danil and Ramli, transferred about 8.45 billion rupiah in stages to the company's bank account from 25 March 2019, withdrew 600 million and 500 million rupiah successfully, and were told in November 2020 that only 14 million and 13 million rupiah remained. It states a branch manager obtained the clients' personal access password against company rules, that a legal demand was served on the Semarang head office in April 2021 without resolution, and that a police report was filed in West Jakarta.
E4The broker's own domain ninestars.co.id returns no answer at all in the domain name system, the response indicating the name does not exist. The domain has been deleted rather than merely parked, so there is no website, email or contact route left for clients.
ModeratePublic DNS lookupE5An archived copy of the broker's About page from February 2023 states it was founded in 2005 and lists BAPPEBTI licence 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006, Jakarta Futures Exchange membership SPAB-126/BBJ/05/05 and clearing membership 65/AK-KBI/XII/2008. The BAPPEBTI number matches the regulator's own record exactly, so the firm was describing its real credentials rather than borrowing anyone else's.
E6The archive index for ninestars.co.id holds 83 captures running from 12 July 2009 to 4 December 2024, all under the single Nine Stars Futures brand. There is no sign of the domain previously hosting a different broker or an unrelated business, which rules out the recycled-domain pattern.
ModerateInternet Archive capture indexE7The final archived capture of the site, from 4 December 2024, is not a website but a bare server directory listing reading 'Index of /'. The operation had already stripped its own site before the domain was given up, leaving clients no notice or instructions.
E8The detail panel of the regulator's revoked-broker entry lists more than 30 individually licensed broker representatives attached to PT. NINE STARS FUTURES, among them the first names that appear in the press account of the disputed accounts. This ties the register entry, the company and the reported case to the same operation.
E9A BAPPEBTI notice records that in October 2011 two broker representative licences at PT. NINE STARS FUTURES were withdrawn at the written request of the company's own president director, because those individuals no longer worked there. This is routine staff administration and is not a sanction against the company, although it has been reported elsewhere as the company losing its licence.
E10The only review page we located carries 12 reviews averaging four stars, every one of them positive, in short generic wording under names that do not fit an Indonesian retail client base, and none mentioning deposits or withdrawals. A uniform block of praise like this is a reputation-management pattern and is not evidence of good conduct.
The other side
The strongest case in this broker’s favour.
The fair case for this company is stronger than its current state suggests, and it deserves stating.
- It was a real, properly licensed Indonesian futures broker for about 18 years, not a shell. BAPPEBTI's own register still lists more than 30 individually licensed representatives against its entry, which is a real regulated workforce.
- Every credential it advertised was true and checkable. The licence number on its website matches the regulator's record character for character. It also published a segregated client account page, and used the standard MetaTrader platform rather than an in-house system nobody can verify.
- Its offices were real and disclosed. The Semarang head office address on its site matches the address BAPPEBTI holds, and the West Jakarta branch was in a known commercial tower.
- Withdrawals demonstrably worked. In the disputed case itself, both clients were paid substantial sums, 600 million and 500 million rupiah, straight to their own bank accounts. That is not how a broker built to steal deposits behaves.
- The disputed case can be read as rogue staff rather than company policy. The conduct described is that of a branch manager and a marketing agent, and the agent held a power of attorney from the clients and was personally connected to one of them. The clients handed over their own access password through her. The company denied wrongdoing and pointed to its supervision by the regulator, the exchange and the clearing house.
- Being on the revoked register is not proof of misconduct. Firms appear there for winding down as well as for sanctions, and BAPPEBTI has not published a reason in this case.
- No regulator in any country has published a warning about this firm or its domain. We checked the international alert aggregator and the UK, Australian, Hong Kong and Singapore lists, plus Indonesia's own illegal-investment task force notices.
- We were careful about the name. Several unrelated businesses use Nine Star or Ninestar, including firms in the UAE, India and China. None of their history is counted here. We matched only on the licence number 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006, the Semarang address and the ninestars.co.id domain.
What would change this
What we would need to see to revise the verdict.
Concrete things that would move this verdict in either direction.
- Towards a scam verdict: BAPPEBTI publishing that the licence was revoked for harming clients or for failing to fix violations, rather than at the company's request.
- Towards a scam verdict: a court judgment or police outcome finding the company, not just individual staff, liable for the missing client money.
- Towards a scam verdict: more clients coming forward with the same account, especially from different branches or a different period, which would turn one incident into a pattern.
- Towards a scam verdict: the brand reappearing on a new domain still advertising the revoked licence number, or a new company at the same address run by the same people.
- Towards clearing it: evidence that the licence was surrendered voluntarily as part of an orderly wind-down, with client funds returned from the segregated accounts.
- Towards clearing it: a published settlement or court finding that the two clients were repaid, or that the loss was genuine trading loss on instructions the clients had authorised.
- Towards clearing it: BAPPEBTI restoring the firm to the licensed register.
Check it yourself
Official registers and warning lists. Verify every claim first-hand.
BAPPEBTI register of futures brokers whose licences have been revoked
Type NINE into the Cari box to see the entry for PT. NINE STARS FUTURES and licence 918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006.
BAPPEBTI register of currently licensed futures brokers
The 67 firms still licensed to broker futures in Indonesia. Nine Stars is not among them.
BAPPEBTI notice on withdrawal of broker representative licences, 2011
Often misreported as the company losing its licence. It concerns two staff licences withdrawn at the company's own request.
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about this broker’s safety.
Is Nine Stars Futures a scam?
We found no evidence that it was built as a scam. It held a genuine Indonesian futures licence for about 18 years and its published credentials were all real. However, that licence has been revoked, the company has disappeared, and there is one documented case of about 8.45 billion rupiah of client money going missing. Treat it as a defunct high-risk operation, not a functioning broker.
Is Nine Stars Futures regulated?
Not any more. BAPPEBTI, Indonesia's commodity futures regulator, lists PT. NINE STARS FUTURES on its register of brokers whose licences have been withdrawn. We also read the full list of 67 currently licensed Indonesian futures brokers and it does not appear there.
What was its licence number?
918/BAPPEBTI/SI/8/2006, issued in August 2006. The number is genuine and matches BAPPEBTI's own records exactly. It is now on the revoked list rather than the active one.
When was the licence revoked?
BAPPEBTI does not publish a date on the register entry itself. Secondary Indonesian coverage places the firm on the revoked list during 2024, with reports describing it as revoked by January 2025. What the regulator's own register confirms without doubt is that the licence has been withdrawn.
Can I still withdraw my money?
Not through the company. Its website domain has been deleted and there is no working contact point. If you have funds or a claim, approach BAPPEBTI directly and keep all your transfer records, statements and correspondence, since clearing and segregated-account records may still exist.
Was client money actually lost?
In at least one documented case, yes. Indonesian media reported in January 2022 that two clients paid in about 8.45 billion rupiah from March 2019 and were told by November 2020 that only about 27 million rupiah remained between them. They had earlier withdrawn 1.1 billion rupiah successfully. A police report was filed and the company denied wrongdoing.
How did the money reportedly disappear?
According to the reports, a marketing agent holding the clients' power of attorney passed their personal access password to a branch manager, who then traded the accounts. The company's own rules forbade staff from taking a client access password. This is why handing over passwords or trading authority to staff is dangerous even at a licensed firm.
Is it a clone of another broker?
No. There is no sign of impersonation. The licence numbers it advertised belonged to it, its domain was not a lookalike of another brand, and it named a real regulator. Note that unrelated companies in the UAE, India and China use similar Nine Star names, and none of their record applies here.
How old was the company?
It claimed to have been founded in 2005, and government records back that up: the exchange membership approval dates from 2005 and the BAPPEBTI licence from August 2006. Archived copies of its website run from 2009 to late 2024, so it operated for roughly 18 to 19 years before shutting down.
Has any regulator issued a warning about it?
We found none. We checked the international regulator alert aggregator and the UK, Australian, Hong Kong and Singapore alert lists, plus Indonesia's illegal-investment task force notices. Absence of a warning is not a clean bill of health, since lists lag events, but it does mean no authority has publicly flagged this firm as a fraud.
What were the BBJ and KBI numbers on its website?
SPAB-126/BBJ/05/05 was its Jakarta Futures Exchange membership and 65/AK-KBI/XII/2008 its clearing membership with Kliring Berjangka Indonesia. Neither is a licence in its own right. They are memberships that depend on holding a BAPPEBTI licence, so they cannot survive its revocation.
What should I check before depositing with any Indonesian broker?
Look the firm up by name on BAPPEBTI's licensed broker register and confirm the licence number matches. Check it is not on the revoked list. Never give an employee your account access password or a power of attorney to trade, and be wary of any broker recruiting you purely by phone or messaging app.
What we recommend
The practical takeaway from everything above.
For anyone approached in this name, the practical position is simple.
- Do not send money to anyone trading as Nine Stars Futures. The licence has been withdrawn, so an Indonesian futures account in this name cannot lawfully be opened.
- Treat any working website, app or WhatsApp contact using this brand as an impersonation of a dead company, and check the name against BAPPEBTI's licensed register before believing anything.
- If you are an existing client with money or an open claim, contact BAPPEBTI directly and keep every transfer receipt, statement and message. Clearing and segregated-account records may still exist even though the company does not answer.
- If you were persuaded to hand over an account password or a power of attorney, say so explicitly when you report it. That is the mechanism at the centre of the documented case.
- Ignore anyone offering to recover these funds for an upfront fee. Collapsed brokers attract recovery scams.
- For our own records, the broker page should show this firm as unregulated and defunct, with the revoked licence recorded rather than deleted, so the history stays visible.
This is an independent assessment of risk, not a legal ruling. Scores and verdicts follow the Wikilix broker-safety methodology and can change as new evidence appears. Review scores are treated with caution when a broker’s reviews look manipulated. Last reviewed August 27, 2026. If any detail here is out of date or incorrect, or you represent this broker, please contact us.