The Indonesian National Police (Polri) says it has shut down an international online gambling network, arresting over 300 foreign nationals in raids on a high-rise office building in West Jakarta.
Polri’s Criminal Investigation Unit said most of the arrestees were Vietnamese. Officers also arrested four Indonesian citizens.
Detectives said the suspects helped operate almost 150 illegal gambling sites that catered to web users across Asia.
Senior Polri officials said in an official release that the police have developed new digital tools. These tools, they said, are now helping investigators “uncover cross-border online gambling cases.”
Indonesian Police: Gambling Sites Operated Out of Jakarta
The operation began with a tip-off from a member of the public, said Inspector-General Nunung Syaifuddin, the Deputy Head of Polri’s Criminal Investigation Agency.
The whistleblower reported “suspicious activities” on the top two floors of the 92-meter Hayam Wuruk Plaza Tower Building, on the busy commercial Hayam Wuruk Street.
Officials followed up with an investigation, eventually deciding to raid offices on the 20th and 21st floors of the building, taking 322 foreign nationals into custody.
Police said several of these individuals have been released pending “further investigations.”
But they are treating 287 others as suspects. Officers said 185 of the suspects are Vietnamese nationals. The group also comprises 76 Chinese nationals, 15 Myanmar passport holders, six Thais, three Laotians, and two Malaysians.
The Indonesian suspects “played a role in facilitating the network’s operations,” said the Inspector-General.
Investigators also confiscated almost 600 mobile phones and 400 laptops during the raids, as well as scores of monitors and PCs.
Police said they seized routers, other digital devices, 155 passports, and cash holdings in rupiah and various foreign currencies worth a total of almost $500,000.
Investigators said the sites all used mirrors and other methods to avoid blocking efforts. All of the group’s servers and hosting platforms were located overseas, officials added.
Indonesian regulators, immigration authorities, and anti-money laundering agencies have joined the investigations, officials confirmed.
At least one of the platforms handled total customer deposits worth over $778 million, officers said.
The investigation is ongoing, as is the hunt for additional suspects, police said.
“We are tracing the flow of funds, assets obtained from the crime, the role of foreign guarantor companies, and investigating the possibility of money laundering,” said the Inspector-General.
Social Media Promotion & Crypto Money-Laundering
Police officials said the gang used social media platforms to drive traffic to the gambling sites.
They made transactions using USDT and other cryptocurrencies to disguise their illegal activities as those of IT and digital marketing companies, Polri officers added.
At least 175 of the suspects worked in customer service roles, said the police. The remainder allegedly worked as web and software developers, marketing staff, financial administrators, operational support staff, and “employee trainers.”
Officers said they had evidence that the group used servers in Brazil, the Philippines, China, and Vietnam.
They also said most of the group’s financial records were stored in Google Sheets. One of these showed that some sections of the group made profits of “around IDR 1.69 trillion [$900,000].”
Investigators said they have identified 15 companies suspected of helping the foreign nationals gain entry into Indonesia.
Polri officials said they aim to dismantle any remaining parts of the network as a search for its masterminds continues.
In recent weeks, Polri officials and anti-money-laundering chiefs have said they have detected a “surge” in illegal betting activity since the start of the World Cup.
Religious courts, which handle family cases, say online gambling is driving up divorce rates nationwide.
