Indonesia's Ministry of Communication and Digital Technology (Komdigi) has reported more than 38,000 bank accounts suspected of being connected to online gambling and illegal online lending activities.
The data was presented during the OJK Banking Forum held in Jakarta on July 14, bringing together the Financial Services Authority (OJK), Komdigi and representatives from the country's banking industry.
Communications and Digital Technology Minister Meutya Hafid said the accounts will undergo a cleansing and verification process before any closures are carried out. The initiative forms part of the government's broader efforts to disrupt financial channels used by illegal online gambling operators and unlicensed lending platforms.
According to the data, Bank Central Asia (BCA) accounted for the largest number of flagged accounts, with more than 7,000, followed by Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) with 6,400 accounts, Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) with 6,100 and Bank Mandiri with 4,649. Other banks listed included CIMB Niaga with 1,363 accounts and Bank Syariah Indonesia (BSI) with 681.
Hafid said the higher number of BCA accounts likely reflects the bank's larger customer base rather than indicating greater exposure to illicit activities. She stressed that the figures should be viewed as an opportunity for improvement across the banking sector rather than a comparison of institutional performance.
She also cautioned that banks absent from the list should not assume they are unaffected. According to Hafid, online gambling syndicates frequently change websites, bank accounts and transaction methods, making it difficult for authorities to identify every account involved at any given time.
The latest disclosure follows a series of coordinated actions by Indonesian authorities to curb online gambling through tighter financial oversight. Regulators have increasingly worked with banks and technology companies to detect suspicious transactions, remove gambling-related content and prevent the misuse of the country's financial system by illegal operators.
The latest figures exceed the previous list of approximately 36,000 suspected accounts announced by regulators earlier this month
