IAW: Online Judicial Accounts Are Easy To Open, Money Turnover Reaches Hundreds Of Trillions

JAKARTA The ease of opening an online gambling reservoir account in Indonesia is considered the equivalent of easy ordering coffee through the application. This phenomenon has been going on for a decade with three main routes that are almost untouched by serious improvements, namely official, semi- legal, and illegal channels.

Indonesian Audit Watch (IAW) Founder Secretary Iskandar Sitorus said official lanes are often misused. "Just use a photocopy of the original ID card, the account can be opened. Identity owners are willing to lend their data for a reward of Rp. 200'500 thousand. Banks or agents in the regions immediately pass the account opening, especially if the target for new account deposits is high," he said, Friday, August 15.

Data from the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), audit reports from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), and records from law enforcement officers showed a significant increase.

In 2015 '2017, an average of 35'40 thousand accounts per year were detected related to online gambling, with a circulation of Rp8'10 trillion. This figure jumped in 2018'20 to 75'90 thousand accounts per year, with transactions of Rp18'22 trillion, along with penetration of the internet and e-wallet.

The explosion occurred during the 2021'2023 pandemic, with an average of 130150 thousand accounts per year and a turnover of Rp4550 trillion. In 2024, the number reached around 165 thousand accounts, with transactions worth Rp56 trillion.

As of July 2025, PPATK blocked more than 122 million domestic accounts as a cleaning step. From the results of network analysis, around 180 thousand accounts were directly connected to online gambling with a turnover of funds for the first half reaching Rp28 trillion. Cumulatively, in the last 10 years more than 1.1 million accounts have been involved, with a total turnover of nearly Rp300 trillion.

Iskandar explained that the flow of online gambling funds usually goes through four stages: players transfer to the holding account, the collector deposits to the collector's account, the collector sends to the dealer or converts to crypto assets, then the funds that have been 'circified' return to the legal system through the purchase of property, luxury vehicles, or investments. PPATK noted that 80 percent of cases were successfully revealed from the point of collection.

"The systemic impact is damaging from upstream to downstream," said Iskandar. He gave an example of a case in Halmahera, North Maluku, where a BPS employee killed his colleague just because a loan of Rp. 30 million to play online gambling was not granted.

According to IAW, online gambling has destroyed many families due to online loan bondage, disrupting the country's economic stability as tax potential is lost to tens of trillions, and undermining financial system integrity due to weak account opening verification.

IAW noted that Dormant accounts are often used to accommodate temporary funds before being sent to collectors, with a pattern of breaking the flow so that it is difficult to track.

As a solution, IAW recommends implementing real-time biometric verification, data integration across ministries/agencies, and strict sanctions for those who pass the holding account.

They also encourage the application of Article 303 of the Criminal Code concerning gambling and Article 3 of the Money Laundering Law on money laundering against dealers and collectors, as well as national campaigns. "Don't Borrow Accounts" to increase public awareness.