Indonesian authorities block gambling websites

Indonesian National Police General Sutarman said Wednesday that police have identified and blocked 146 online gambling accounts detected during routine monitoring.

“All the gambling accounts were blocked and we are continuing to investigate. Of the total, 96 accounts were fictitious with some using fake addresses, while the remainder are unknown,” Sutarman told attendees during a meeting at the House of Representatives’ Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, in the capital city Jakarta.

The Indonesian National Police have a dedicated cybercrime team who trace sites offering online gambling and are empowered to block those domains where there is a strong indication of those services being offered.

Any balances remaining in the blocked accounts are confiscated during the trial process and added to the state coffers.

“We will keep on investigating […] and any funds proved in court to be linked to money-laundering practices will be confiscated for the state,” Sutarman confirmed.

According to the Jakarta Post, in an unrelated issue, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) has blocked 119 accounts held at four banks, whose funds are allegedly linked to fraudulent and online gambling activities. All of the blocked accounts had used new payment methods (NPMs) for money laundering.

Head of PPATK, M. Yusuf, told the Jakarta Post that NMP’s were increasingly being used as alternative payment methods for cash obtained from gambling and that the PPATK had uncovered 14 NPM cases using cash derived from fraud and online gambling.

According to Yusuf, most NPM’s are conducted in Jakarta, followed by East Java and West Java.