How to Receive BCA and Indonesian Bank OTPs Abroad

To receive BCA, Mandiri and GoPay OTPs while you live abroad, keep your Indonesian SIM active in a spare iPhone at home in Indonesia, and let Fwrd forward each OTP text to Telegram or any of its eight destinations (for email, another phone and WhatsApp, it hands the text to your shortcut’s send step). Keeping that number alive is simpler than getting a new one, which since July 2026 needs a face check.

What you need: your Indonesian SIM (Telkomsel, Indosat or XL), registered in your name and with credit; a spare iPhone on iOS 26 or later; a place for it in Indonesia with power and Wi-Fi, with someone who can unlock it every two or three days and after a restart; Fwrd; and an app you read abroad.

How can I receive Indonesian bank OTPs abroad?

Keep the number your bank, card and e-wallet already know in a spare iPhone at home. When BCA, Mandiri, BRI or BNI texts a code to it, the SIM gets it on its home network, and Fwrd forwards it to you over the internet, whoever sent it.

Can an Indonesian SIM receive SMS abroad?

It can on roaming, but whether texts arrive, and what that costs, is up to your carrier and plan. The spare-iPhone setup needs no roaming: the SIM stays home, and only the forward travels.

Which OTPs still come by text?

Many still do, though banks are adding in-app codes.

• BCA texts the OTP for online debit card payments to the cardholder’s registered number, and asks you to keep that number able to receive SMS while abroad (BCA, read November 3, 2026). Since June 2026, you can also choose to get card OTPs inside myBCA or BCA mobile (BCA, read November 3, 2026).
• myBCA sends its OTPs for registration, a new phone and PIN resets to your registered number, which can now be an international one (BCA, read November 3, 2026). If myBCA is all you use, a foreign number may be enough.
• GoPay sends its OTP to your registered number by SMS or WhatsApp, and lets you switch (Gojek, read November 3, 2026). Choose SMS: Fwrd forwards texts, not WhatsApp messages.

Why is my BCA OTP not arriving abroad?

Usually because the Indonesian SIM can’t receive texts where it is, or its validity ran out. Left in a spare iPhone at home with credit, it gets BCA’s texts, and Fwrd forwards them. If you chose myBCA or BCA mobile for card OTPs, the code appears in the app instead.

How to forward Indonesian OTPs to your phone abroad

1. Pick where the codes should go. Telegram, WhatsApp and email work anywhere you have internet. Another Phone texts the phone you carry; check what your Indonesian plan charges to text abroad.

2. Add it in Fwrd on the spare iPhone. Open Fwrd, tap +, choose the destination, and fill in its details in the Configuration field. Tap Send Test Message, then save with the tick.

3. Create a Message automation. On iOS 27, open Shortcuts, tap Library, then Automation, then +. If you see Describe a shortcut, tap Edit. Tap Automation, then Message, and change Sender to Message. On iOS 26, open the Automation tab, tap +, and choose Message.

   

4. Type OTP, then make it run without asking. Type OTP, or another word your code texts contain, such as kode. Codes often come from lettered sender names the Sender picker can’t offer, so match on the words in the text. Then, on iOS 27, tap the arrow beside the trigger and check Confirm Before Run is off, and under ⓘ, then Privacy, check Allow Running When Locked is on. On iOS 26, choose Run Immediately, then tap Next and Create New Shortcut.

5. Add Fwrd’s action. Search for Forward, add Forward Message to All Destinations, and set its Message field to Shortcut Input. For another phone, email or WhatsApp, add Apple’s Send Message, Apple’s Send Email or WhatsApp’s Send Message below it, set its message to Fwrd’s output, and pick the recipient. Give Send Email a subject and turn off Show Compose Sheet. Tap back to save (Done on iOS 26).

6. That’s it. New OTP texts to your Indonesian number now reach you abroad on their own, with the spare iPhone unlocked or locked.

How do I keep my Indonesian number active from abroad?

Keep it connected, topped up and near someone.

• Keep it connected. Telkomsel says a SIM off its network for 90 days in a row enters a 30-day grace period (masa tenggang), after which the SIM and its credit can’t be used again (Telkomsel, read November 3, 2026). A SIM in a spare iPhone at home stays connected.
• Extend validity before it ends. Telkomsel says any package purchase extends validity (masa aktif), including one paid with GoPay, OVO or a credit card, or received as a gift (Telkomsel, read November 3, 2026). You can pay from abroad, or family can.
• On XL or Indosat, follow your network’s rules. XL says a lapsed number can be reactivated only within 60 days, with your e-KTP and Kartu Keluarga or a face check in myXL (XL, read November 3, 2026).
• Keep the number you have. Since July 1, 2026, every new number must be registered with a face check against Dukcapil records (Komdigi, read November 3, 2026). Losing yours means a new number and updating every bank.
• Someone unlocks it every few days. An iPhone that isn’t unlocked for three days restarts itself, and after any restart Fwrd can’t forward until someone unlocks it once.
• Turn off automatic iOS updates and the SIM PIN. An update restarts the phone, and a SIM PIN keeps it off the network after a restart until someone types it.

The codes are yours. Forward OTPs only to a chat or inbox only you can read, never to a family group chat. BCA’s terms for BCA mobile say not to tell your OTP to anyone, including family members (BCA, read November 3, 2026). Some banks forbid sharing OTPs, so check yours.

Fwrd is free for 15 forwards a month as of November 2026, and a text a filter skips doesn’t use one up. Fwrd Pro removes the limit; set it up before you leave.

What forwarding can’t do

• It can’t send an SMS from your Indonesian number. During setup, Livin’ by Mandiri has the phone send a verification SMS, which fails if the SIM is inactive or short of credit (Bank Mandiri, read November 3, 2026). Fwrd only forwards texts that come in.
• It can’t put the SIM in your phone. BCA’s terms say swapping the SIM in your phone for another can make BCA mobile’s m-BCA menu inaccessible (BCA, read November 3, 2026).
• It can’t keep the SIM alive once validity and the grace period run out.
• It can’t forward in-app codes, WhatsApp OTPs or voice calls, only texts.
• It isn’t banking advice. What your bank allows from abroad is up to your bank.