YouTubers in Indonesia are under fire for pulling cruel pranks on Grab riders and then posting videos of their distressed reactions on the video sharing platform.

In Indonesia, a huge amount of "prank ojol" YouTube videos or pranks on Grab riders have emerged, raising concerns and anger among other users on social media.

The prank, which has been labelled as "cruel" and "heartless", has prompted Grab Indonesia to announce that it will be taking action against the accounts of customers who pull such practical jokes on their riders, according to CNBC Indonesia.

"We will also be observing the activity of such customers and take stern action such as suspending or deactivating the account, if it has been proven that they were placing fake orders," the company said in a statement to CNBC Indonesia.

In the same report, the company also urged customers to appreciate the hard work that its riders go through in their daily routine.

Ojol is a local term for "ojek online". In most of the videos with "prank ojol" content, a YouTuber would place an order through the Grab app for a huge amount of food.

As the rider is about to arrive with the delivery, the YouTuber would then call the rider directly to cancel the order.

The YouTuber would then secretly record the rider's reaction and post the video of his/her ordeal on the video platform.

Some riders have reacted with tears and frustration as a cancelled order means not only time wasted but also a huge loss of income as the riders then have to bear the cost of the cancelled food order.

This is because Grab in Indonesia allows for cash payments upon delivery.

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One video posted back in June which has since racked up over one million views depicted a YouTuber calling to cancel a pizza order and then secretly recording his rider waiting in frustration, set against sad background music.

The YouTuber then explained that he reached out to the rider to present the man with some money and apologised for his troubles.

Some YouTubers take the prank a step further. According to website Seleb Eksis, YouTuber Baim Wong who has over eight million subscribers posted a video where he made a Grab rider wait with his order for more than one hour.

After that, he rewarded the rider for his patience with 1.5 million Indonesian rupiah (S$145). The video posted back in June has garnered over four million views.

Anger over prank ojol has led some users to exhort YouTubers to stop posting videos featuring such content.

YouTuber Raden Rauf, in a video titled Anti Prank Ojol posted on Nov 28, reminded his fellow content creators to stop posting videos featuring other people's misery just for views. He also started the hashtag #SayNoToPrank as a way to rally others to promote his sentiments.

Sebuah Pesan dari Abang Ojol untuk Youtuber Youtuber Kondang yang sering melakukan Prank ke Abang Ojol.

Semoga kita semua bisa lebih menghargai satu sama lain.

Semoga pesan ini tersampaikan. #SayNoToPrank pic.twitter.com/X1rPdrSXpt — IG: @radenrauf (@radenrauf) 27 November 2019

A Grab Malaysia spokesperson said such pranks on their riders have not been reported locally so far because Grab Malaysia practices a cashless payment system.