Kemenkominfo Will Meet Managers And BI, Investigate The Rise Of E-Wallet Utilized By Online Judicial Actors

Minister of Communication and Information Budi Arie Setiadi at the Ministry of Communication and Information Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, September 20, 2023. (ANTARA-Livia K)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Communication and Information (Kemenkominfo) is investigating the findings of electronic wallets or e-Wallets in Indonesia that are increasingly being used by online gamblers.

The findings are based on the results of the closure of an e-wallet account affiliated with online gambling until September 17, 2023 with a total account of 1,005 accounts by the authorities, namely the platform and the Financial Services Authority (OJK).

"We have prepared an E-wallet discussion with the manager, maybe to Bank Indonesia (BI) too. Later we will review this, I am currently reviewing this with my management friends," said Minister of Communication and Information (Menkominfo) Budi Arie Setiadi, Wednesday, September 20, quoted by Antara.

According to Budi, the closure of access to e-wallet accounts is allegedly affiliated with online gambling by the OJK and the fintech platform is carried out because the account has transaction anomalies.

One of its characteristics is the refill of funds to an e-wallet account which is defined as debit at certain times, but the account owner never makes withdrawal or credit transactions.

"There are indications like that, at the beginning of the week or certain days once suddenly there is an increase in the top up. But the money just goes in, no money comes out of that account," he said.

He argues that this is clearly different from active e-Wallet users in general who often make digital transactions, while the method of using e-Wallet which is dominated by receiving refills is considered unreasonable.

Regarding the closure of financial access affiliated with online gambling, Budi has recently written to the Chairman of the OJK Commissioner Mahendra Siregar to close more bank account accounts which are suspected to have close ties to this illegal practice.

There are as many as 800 bank accounts submitted to be closed based on public reports and the results of the identification of the Ministry of Communication and Information affiliated with online gambling networks.