Cambodia asks Indonesia for assistance in identifying, eliminating illegal online gambling operations
Cambodia’s National Committee for Counter Trafficking (NCCT) is seeking assistance from Indonesia as part of its efforts to crack down on illegal gambling operations located within its own borders.
The Khmer Times reports that the NCCT has asked Indonesia to share its experiences when it comes discovering and cracking down on illegal sites emanating from Cambodia. This comes just days after Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Information (Kominfo) said that the majority of servers hosting online gambling sites illegally offering their services to Indonesians were based in Cambodia and the Philippines.
NCCT Vice-Chairwoman and Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior, Chou Bun Eng, said Sunday, “We asked the Indonesian authorities to share their experiences, information, and locations of illegal online gambling in Cambodia.
“Cambodia is not a hiding place for illegal online crimes. Cambodian authorities are working to combat illegal online gambling, human trafficking, cyber fraud, illegal detention and other crimes.
“The Cambodian government also does not want to see all these crimes happen in its territory and we are doing a lot of work with relevant partners and foreign authorities in many countries.”
According to Bun Eng, it is vital that countries share such technical knowledge in cracking down on illegal gambling sites, particularly in instances where instances were directly connected.
Kominfo Minister Budi Arie Setiadi revealed during a press conference on Friday that Indonesia had since mid-July terminated 425,506 instances of gambling content on various platforms being distributed by way of IP addresses, file-sharing platforms and social media platforms.
It added that the Financial Services Authority (OJK) had blocked 2,760 accounts, with the Ministry calling upon the Bank of Indonesia to intensify its efforts to prevent online gambling activities.
Local media is reporting that Indonesians spend between US$10 billion and US$22 billion annually on illegal online gambling sites.
