PPATK: Trillions of Online Gambling Money Flow to Students, Police Accounts

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) on Wednesday announced the finding of large amounts of money flowing to students and police personnel that is believed to come from online gambling, which is said to reach Rp155 trillion. 

PPATK spokesperson M. Natsir Kongah said investigators have been notified about this finding. The fantastic amount of money is an accumulation of PPATK’s finding of 121 transactions.

“What I can say is the flow went to a student, college student, and policeman. It is shown from the transactions,” said Natsir to Tempo on September 14. 

However, he insisted that a deeper investigation needs to be held to determine the exact amount of money flowing to the aforementioned groups of people. 

Previously, PPATK had detected a flow of money indicated by online gambling funds to various Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Thailand, and Cambodia. PPATK revealed that online gamblers are very good at covering their tracks discreetly for money launder.

In addition, online gambling funds are also suspected of flowing into 'tax haven' countries. PPATK is now coordinating with financial intelligence agencies in these countries.

PPATK noted that perpetrators often change the IP addresses of online gambling sites, move around, and change accounts. In addition, there are also people who combine their online gambling profit with legitimate businesses.