Story former online gambling addict who was given win and immediately became destitute

Story former online gambling addict who was given win and immediately became destitute

The story of a former online gambling addict who was given a win but immediately became destitute

Online Gambling Players (Photo: Okezone)

- Indonesian people of all ages are increasingly vulnerable to being caught up in online gambling amid the increasingly intense promotions of bookies on internet sites, social media, applications and even video games.

If you type the words online gambling into the Google search engine, you can easily find local government sites that have been hacked and turned into gambling stalls like KING999. Or when searching for slot gambling in the Google Play application store, dozens of applications with the name 'casino, slot or game' are available and ready to be downloaded. On Facebook too, there are lots of group accounts that invite and even offer services to create gambling sites for IDR 4 million - IDR 8 million.

Cyber experts say Indonesia has entered an emergency phase for online gambling even though millions of sites have been blocked by the Ministry of Communication and Information.

Now, with the formation of the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force, can this problem be resolved?

What is the task of the online gambling task force?

The idea of forming a task force to eradicate online gambling has actually been raised since last April in a limited meeting with President Jokowi at the Palace.

Months after the discourse was raised, no concrete steps have been heard. Until a series of tragic incidents emerged related to online gambling.

On Tuesday, it was revealed that Private Dua Prima Saleh Gea, a member of the 1st Health Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Bogor Kostrad, was found hanged and allegedly because he was caught in online gambling.

He died in the OB room at Yonkes1/YKH/1 Kostrad Field Hospital, Bogor, West Java.

Then a female police officer (policewoman) Fadhilatun Nikmah is said to have set fire to her husband who was also a police officer, Rian DW, because she was upset because her husband's salary was spent playing online gambling.

This income should be used to finance their household needs, which include a two-year-old child and four-month-old twins.

President Joko Widodo recently responded to the news about the wife burning her husband by signing a Presidential Decree on the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force on June 14 2024.

The Presidential Decree states that the task force will be led by the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Hadi Tjahjanto and the Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture, Muhadjir Effendy. Meanwhile, the daily head of prevention is held by the Minister of Communication and Information, Budi Arie, and the daily head of law enforcement is the National Police Chief, Listyo Sigit.

In the Presidential Decree there are at least three points of the task force's duties: What does the task force's prevention strategy look like? Deputy Daily Chair for the Prevention of Online Gambling Eradication Task Force who is also Director General of Information and Public Communication at the Ministry of Coordination and Information, Usman Kansong, said the task force was given the mandate to work until December 2024.

He claimed that the task force already had a strategy to eradicate online gambling that was more comprehensive and integrated. In terms of prevention, there is actually nothing new to do, such as asking internet service providers, social media or applications to block online gambling-related content on their platforms.

If they persist, Usman claims, the Ministry of Communication and Information will not hesitate to close the platform. "Like now we have sent two warning letters to Telegram to remove online gambling content, but they were ignored... we will issue a third warning, if it is not blocked," said Usman Kansong, quoted by BBC News Indonesia, Monday (17/6/2024 ).

"Even though we understand that the Indonesian people's dependence on platforms is very high, so if they want to take arbitrary steps they can be protested by [the public] but that's okay, we take that risk, if it has to be blocked, then block it."

In terms of prevention, there is actually nothing new to do, such as asking internet service providers, social media or applications to block online gambling-related content on their platforms. If they persist, Usman claims, the Ministry of Communications and Information will not hesitate to close the platform. "As of now, we have sent two warning letters to Telegram to remove online gambling content, but they are ignored, we will issue a third warning, if it is not blocked," said Usman Kansong to BBC News Indonesia, Sunday (16/6).

"In 2017, Telegram was blocked, when it became a means of exchanging information and raising funds for terrorism."

Apart from blocking, the Ministry of Coordination and Information will also continue to educate the public to avoid the trap of online gambling.

One new strategy being designed by the Ministry of Communication and Information, said Usman, is to create a technology that can prevent or detect at an early stage online gambling content from being accessed. But to create this technology, he did not give a timeframe for how long it would take to complete.

"We hope soon." The Ministry of Coordination and Information previously claimed to have blocked 2.1 million websites related to online gambling in Indonesia. Based on their searches, the majority of servers identified with online gambling sites came from overseas sites in Southeast Asian countries.

It's just that even though millions of sites have been blocked, in fact internet pages that are indicated for online gambling are still easy to find on the Google search engine. If you type 'online gambling' then local government sites such as https://pafikabsemarang.org turn into online gambling stalls called KING999: Online Gacor Slot Site Link Slot88.

Similar sites owned by local governments such as https://pafimerauke, if you click on it, information about an online gambling agent called TEXAS88 will immediately appear.

Not only that, the CAKRA777 or KETUA77 gambling site is still easily detected on Google.

Not to mention on Facebook, there are scattered accounts of services and buying and selling for creating online gambling sites that can be owned by private people.

One of them is called Jasawebsiteku Trusted which openly puts up a price list for creating online gambling sites, slots, lottery, etc. Prices start from IDR 4.8 million to IDR 8.3 million depending on the engine display or desired appearance.

If you can't create an online gambling site, there are those who offer website rentals at a price range of IDR 650,000 per week or IDR 2 million per month.

Usman Kansong said that his party had often asked social media platforms or internet services to self-censor online gambling content as ordered in the ITE Law.

However, this was not done either. They, he claims, will only delete certain content or accounts if there is a direct request from the Ministry of Coordination and Information.

"So they are waiting for the nature, if there is no request [to take down] just keep quiet. But this time it won't be like that, we ask them to also be responsible for protecting the Indonesian people from online gambling," he explained. "The platform must comply with the law that gambling in Indonesia is prohibited in any form."

What are the steps taken by the task force?

The Financial Transaction Analyst Reporting Center (PPATK) said it had blocked as many as 5,000 individual and group accounts related to online gambling.

Of the thousands of accounts, said Usman Kansong, the team's search results showed that the flow of funds led to big bookies located abroad, such as Cambodia. Meanwhile, the online gambling bookies arrested by the National Police so far are only middlemen or small bookies.

"In Indonesia, they are admins or small bookies, the police have arrested them several times, for example in shophouses in West Jakarta. If the big ones haven't been arrested, including their main servers there [overseas]. That's why they can still appear again [online gambling sites ]," he added.

In taking action, continued Usman, the task force will later target these big-time dealers by collaborating with Interpol and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is hoped that with the assistance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the authorities of both countries can help arrest online gambling bookies specifically in Indonesia. More than that, he hopes that the perpetrators can be extradited to Indonesia.

"We will cooperate with Interpol, the local police who will arrest or help. Later we will see whether there can be an extradition system in gambling cases or not..." "Usually the extradition policy is for specific crimes such as drugs, corruption, the important thing is to take action first." "Whether we want to be punished there, or how it will be discussed with the country concerned." Regarding the alleged involvement of legal officials in protecting online bookies, Usman did not deny it.

For this reason, the task force, he continued, involved the Military Police and the Provost.

"In the enforcement team there are military police and the provost, that's my answer. Basically, we have placed them who definitely have a purpose."

The Online Gambling Eradication Task Force will start its first meeting to finalize the strategies taken.

In the next three months, the task force team will make an evaluation of the work that has been carried out and the results.

"We will try our best during these six months."

Is the task force effective in eradicating online gambling?

Digital forensics expert, Ruby Alamsyah, admitted that he was pessimistic that the Online Gambling Eradication Task Force could really eradicate this cross-border crime within six months if referring to the nomenclature contained in the presidential decree. This is because the people who serve as daily heads of prevention and action are those who have always had the same main duties even though they are not part of the task force. That's why he questioned the function of the task force if it didn't have an effective new strategy other than blocking and arresting small dealers in the country.

"In my view, the composition of this task force is normative. Officials already exist and that is their job. There are no representative parties who are technically capable of eradicating this," said Ruby to BBC News Indonesia, Sunday (16/06).

"Judging from the structural composition, the officials have the same daily duties and functions. There is no proper representation of the technical team to deal with it."

To eradicate online gambling, Ruby believes that President Jokowi should form a special team that really understands cyber crime. There, the team worked to analyze internet traffic data used to create online gambling sites in Indonesia.

After studying the existing online gambling network traffic over the last one or three years, you will find out how the bookies work.

"You can find out their patterns of avoiding blocks, creating new cells, changing IP address domains. From there it can be revealed what the problem is and the solution."

"That's how it should be if you want to call it an online gambling eradication task force. Because the key word in online gambling is very technical work." Ruby said that efforts to block millions of sites commanded by the Coordinating Ministry for Information have so far been less effective. Because the Ministry of Coordination and Information does not have tools that can immediately close online gambling sites in Indonesia.

So far, the Ministry of Coordination and Information has routinely sent requests to the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) to block websites that they find or have been complained about by the public.

However, there is no guarantee whether APJII members have actually closed the site because there is no report or evaluation.

"But what about internet service providers who are not registered with APJII? Nobody is blocking them. Meanwhile, there are many illegal internet providers in areas that use satellite." "My notes are that around 25%-30% of internet services in Indonesia cannot be covered by Indonesian policy, because many are illegal."

The strategy he explained, Ruby claims, is more effective and can be done quickly.

If you want to catch a big dealer controlled from abroad like Cambodia, it will take a long time due to limited legal jurisdiction.

Apart from that, not all of the online gambling sites that are scattered around are controlled from abroad. "There are more and more small bookies, because the market is big. You or I can even become a small bookie with just IDR 100 million in capital, if we prepare the system."

"We just have to create a fake account to deposit money."

"Well, these [small bookies] will always be there, because the market is big and the target is ordinary people, even the lower class, who can deposit IDR 10,000."

"So there are other ways, besides blocking." Another thing that must be done is legal action as a deterrent effect. The observation is that until now there have been no serious sanctions or criminal sentences against perpetrators or people involved in online gambling. Artists who promoted online gambling were even let go. As a result, there is no deterrent effect.

Online gambling victim: 'If you are serious, arrest the one who protects the bookie'

Dion, not his real name, was addicted to online gambling in 2020. He said that at first he played slot gambling for fun by risking IDR 50,000 a day. At first he won IDR 300,000 to IDR 1 million. Consecutive wins are what makes him addicted and keep playing online gambling. However, later winning did not come.

"It's like if I've used up IDR 2 million, you definitely won't accept [losing] and you have to return the money by... gambling again, gambling again."

This single man admitted that his savings and severance pay were gone. The money from the pawned car also disappeared without a trace. Realizing there was nothing left, Dion decided to stop playing online gambling. He started changing his cell phone number and deleting all online gambling applications.

"I've repented of online gambling, my savings and car are all gone," said Dion, laughing, remembering his gloomy times.

However, even though he has changed his cell phone number, Dion is still sent messages containing online gambling advertisements via WhatsApp or SMS from unknown contacts to this day. That's why Dion doesn't believe the task force will be able to eradicate online gambling.

Moreover, law enforcement officers have been caught as addicts.

"Do the police want to arrest the person themselves?"

"In fact, if you want to dismantle big [dealers] just track down the workers who work in Cambodia, Thailand, just find out where they work. The center is there."

"If you have the intention, everything is easy. There are just a lot of people protecting [the dealer], right?" "Creating a task force is just a waste of budget."

For your information, PPATK data states that 3.2 million Indonesians have been identified as being involved in online gambling. They range from students to housewives.

The transaction value related to online gambling also continues to increase from year to year. Most recently, in 2023, it was stated that at least IDR 327 trillion of public money would be used for online gambling.

Online Gambling Victims