Minister Of Communication And Information: 1,450 Bank Accounts And 1,005 E-Wallets Connected To Online Gambling Blocked

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi. (ANTARA/HO-Kemenkominfo)

JAKARTA - Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi said that 2,455 financial access connected to online gambling had been blocked.

The financial access in question is access to bank accounts and electronic wallets or also known as e-wallets.

"As of September 17, 2023, banks and platforms have blocked 1,450 accounts and 1,005 e-wallets," Budi said in his statement, Tuesday, September 19, which was confiscated by Antara.

The closure of gambling-affiliated financial access is the result of cross-industrial and government collaboration in fighting online gambling.

In the event of breaking financial access affiliated with online gambling, the Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) routinely helps the process of identifying related accounts and until September 17, 2023, there are 1,931 accounts suspected of being related to this illegal practice.

"We are surrounded by all of them, all devices, all tools, all things that can be related to online gambling, we are coordinating with Bank Indonesia for the payment system, with the OJK to monitor its banks, if we can't use everything, what will he use," said Budi.

In addition, the Ministry of Communication and Information in charge of creating productive Indonesian cyberspace routinely cut off access to content and websites related to online gambling.

As of September 17, 2023, the Ministry of Communication and Information has cut off access to as many as 971,285 content and online gambling sites.

"We want to make the atmosphere or the online gambling ecosystem uncomfortable for them, let them make it again, we will close again, they will make us close again," said Budi.

Budi realizes online gamblers will continue to look for ways to launch their actions even though their space for movement has been significantly limited in various ways by the Government.

Therefore, the Ministry of Communication and Information invites the public to play an active role by refusing and staying away from online gambling practices.

In addition, the public is asked to remind each other that online gambling is a detrimental activity and is legally prohibited.

If it is found that people violate this rule, there will be legal consequences that can be applied and ensnare online gamblers.

"We are not indiscriminate, including the police, we also coordinate that they want to be serious about cleaning, helping, taking legal action against all those who commit unlawful acts," Minister Budi threatened.