Prevent Online Gambling: Bareskrim Polri Urges Banks to Tighten Account-Opening Procedures

Dittipidsiber, the Cyber Crime Directorate of the Indonesian National Police (Bareskrim), has urged banks to tighten account-opening procedures. The move is seen as crucial to prevent bank accounts being used as operational platforms for online gambling (judol). Dittipidsiber Director Brig. Gen. Himawan Bayu Aji stressed the importance of implementing strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) policies.

‘We expect banks to tighten account-opening procedures by implementing KYC and AML strictly and comprehensively,’ Himawan said at the Bareskrim building in Jakarta on Thursday (5 March).

Early detection and legal efficiency

Beyond tightening initial procedures, Himawan urged banks to establish early-detection systems to narrow the room for online gambling operators seeking to abuse banking facilities. ‘Let there be no accounts used as operational channels for online gambling,’ he asserted.

To accelerate law enforcement, police and banking sector representatives have agreed to streamline bureaucratic checks. Going forward, investigations into gambling suspects’ accounts can be conducted at the bank’s head office.

This represents a positive level of synergy, enabling a single solution to speed up the handling of online gambling cases,’ added Himawan.

Asset recovery

On the same day, Dittipidsiber Bareskrim Polri formally handed over assets worth Rp58.1 billion to the Attorney General’s Office (Kejaksaan Agung). The funds arise from asset seizures in online gambling cases and will be deposited into the state treasury.

This step implements Supreme Court Regulation (Perma) Number 1 of 2013, relating to assets sourced from Money Laundering (TPPU) where the principal offence is gambling.

‘Asset execution today is a concrete follow-up to the analysis report (LHA) provided by the Financial Transaction Reporting and Analysis Centre (PPATK) to the Cyber Crime Directorate of Bareskrim Polri,’ the senior police officer stated.

Himawan concluded by emphasising that the asset seizure demonstrates Polri’s commitment to supporting the government’s priority programme, particularly in terms of asset recovery from cybercrime.