Indonesia Targets Accounts After 3.7 Million Gambling Blocks

Indonesia has blocked 3.7 million gambling-related sites and pieces of content since October 2024. Authorities are also tracing suspected bank accounts and phone numbers.

Minister for Communication and Digital Affairs Meutya Hafid revealed the numbers following the 2026 OJK Banking Forum that was held in Jakarta. The total covers enforcement between October 20, 2024, and July 12, 2026. It includes websites and other online content suspected of facilitating gambling activity.

The number of removals demonstrates the reliance of Indonesia on the use of content blocking. Domains can reappear under new addresses, hence requiring officials to engage in the same exercise. This has led to increased priority being placed on financial accounts and mobile identifiers.

Bank Accounts Become a Key Target

Authorities are also targeting the financial channels used by gambling services. The ministry has reported around 38,000 suspected gambling-linked bank accounts to the Financial Services Authority, or OJK. Out of these accounts, 32,500 have already been closed.

The ministry’s figures differ from OJK’s earlier July update, which referred to 36,191 accounts subject to enhanced checks or blocking instructions. This corresponds to almost 85.5% of all accounts reported by the ministry. Hafid called for further cooperation from banks to identify and block additional accounts.

Closing off financial channels might have a more lasting impact compared to domain blocking.

Public Reports Supply Additional Data

Authorities are also using cekrekening.id, a government portal for checking and reporting accounts suspected of involvement in fraud or other crimes. Users have reported 156,000 accounts suspected of links to online gambling through cekrekening.id. The ministry has also received reports concerning 85,500 mobile phone numbers suspected of being used for fraud.

The number of accounts and mobile phone numbers should be analyzed independently of the number of websites blocked. This is because each of the figures refers to a separate element of the enforcement drive.

Agencies Shift Toward Pattern Detection

Hafid said the ministry is moving away from responding to individual websites and towards pattern-based anomaly detection. In the following phase, pattern recognition in digital services will play a larger role. The plan includes faster data sharing between cekrekening.id, financial regulators, banks, and mobile identity authorities.

Such an integrated system could make it easier to compare websites, accounts, and phone numbers. It could also reduce the time between detecting suspected gambling activity and restricting the related financial or communication channels.

Expanding the Role of Banks

Banks in Indonesia are already required to screen customers and perform additional due diligence in case of need. This becomes more and more relevant as law enforcement gets closer to the payment activity.

The government has taken down huge volumes of web content. However, the quantity of removals does not speak much about the speed at which gambling sites are able to return. A much more telling metric would be whether agencies can connect a new domain to its accounts and phone numbers before it builds another working payment network.