Indonesia arrests 5 foreigners suspected in online gambling syndicate

[Stepstowealth]

I think this is the second time I’m seeing cases of a country arresting foreigners who are said to be operating illegal gambling businesses in the country, which brings me to the question of why someone would leave their own country and go to the country of others just to open up an illegal gambling business.

People leave their own countries and go to other countries to open illegal gambling businesses because they recognize the market that is in those countries because there are many gamblers on the countries who are looking for a place to gamble but because of the restriction on the government on gambling, they are unable to do so openly so they seek these sorts of illegal gambling rings.
The unfortunate thing however with this is that as long as the profit potential exist in this business, there will always be those who will seek to establish such illegal gambling rings, and not just foreigners, even locals will be involved. Sometimes instead of completely ban gambling It is better to put in some regulations to avoid illegal gambling rings like these being set up in your country.

[Nrcewker]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

I dont think its necessary to be physically present in the country whose gamblers you are targeting. There might be several reasons why they chose Indonesia for this. I think according to them, different countries have different laws and different punishments for crimes. So these criminals might have thought of choosing a country where the authorities are slower to take action. Maybe there was another reason why they chose Indonesia, such as cheap rent or the availability of cheap labour/workers. Basically the overall infrastructure and setup costs might be lower.

And since it was an online business they wouldnt need a physical office or a proper setup. Any rented apartment or house could have done the job. These are just assumptions though. The real reason why they chose Indonesia can only be known after the police investigate them.

[Sticky Bomb]

Maybe they are part of the payment provider team or telemarketers, and so on. We understand that they are not operating legally, but we are not certain that the foreigners who are arrested are planning to scam their players either, as they are not the actual owners of the online casino. The thing is that we shouldn't conclude yet whether they are planning on scamming anyone until there is evidence that proves it.

Edit: Lastly, the reason why they are not working in their country might be that they want to place themselves where they could easily get traffic no their site or an environment without much law enforcement.

It's not about scamming their players or not. It's against the law over there. Gambling is prohibited for both locals and foreigners in Indonesia, so any grabbling promotion or activity there is strictly illegal. I think a lot of people over there loves grabbling a lot which is the reason most foreign gambling providers go there to operate illegally, they've handled not less than 700 cases of legal gambling this year alone. I also think there's lots of corruption in that country, illegal gambling schemes wouldn't survive so long without the collaboration of highly placed individuals and locals.

[jcojci]

Here is the source:

Code:

https://en.antaranews.com/news/431116/indonesia-arrests-5-foreigners-suspected-in-online-gambling-syndicate

They see the potential to runs their business through other countries. They willing to leave their own country and move from one to another because they only needs internet running their business. Maybe they see the numbers of gamblers are big in Indonesia so they thinks that it is good for them to catch up local gamblers by launching local gambling site. Indonesia prohibit gambling but that doesn't stop people from playing gambling so those syndicate see the chance to take attention. So staying for a while in a place will not be a problem for them but they should stay on eye from the authority.

[m2017]

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Immigration Office has arrested five foreign nationals from China and Vietnam suspected of being part of an international online gambling syndicate.

According to Banten Immigration Office Head Barron Ichsan, the five foreigners were arrested following an inspection of their place of stay on September 7, during which officers found "an unreasonable number of electronic devices operating automatically."

"During the inspection, our officers confiscated one computer, one laptop, and 26 cellphones," Ichsan said of the operation in his remarks on Saturday.

So, this "potentially illegal casino" was discovered only thanks to a random check by the immigration service? Otherwise, no one would have found it.

I think this is the second time I’m seeing cases of a country arresting foreigners who are said to be operating illegal gambling businesses in the country, which brings me to the question of why someone would leave their own country and go to the country of others just to open up an illegal gambling business.

It is a very simple question that calls for a simple answer: organizing a casino - especially an illegal one (since there is no license), carries severe penalties in their home country (up to 20 years in prison in China and up to 10 years in Vietnam).

Ironically, these expatriate organizers moved to a foreign country to avoid police scrutiny, yet their status as "foreigners" ended up attracting the attention of the authorities, specifically, immigration police.

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

In theory, they could have been anywhere in the world while still running their casino. Indonesia was likely chosen due to its location in the Asian region (where the individuals originated), offering relative proximity to their home country and a lenient visa policy.

They simply had the bad luck of being caught during a routine inspection.

[Tungbulu]

That could also be it, but according to the story on the op link, all of those which were arrested are all foreign nationals, unless they have people who are locals that handle the payment processing and customer service. If not, most of these scammers can multitask and still receive the payment convert it without a direct involvement of people from their especially if they are focused on run a crypto casino.

And that’s the part where crypto makes it a lot more easier for them to operate and run it remotely,  but that though doesn’t eliminate the risk to leave some traces. There are several ways that links can be created between the people and an operation in such cases, could be through wallet movements, server records, even exchange activities. And just because someone is physically outside the country doesn’t automatically mean that they’re not going to be unreachable.

[mvdheuvel1983]

Don't be surprised that it's these people that do go to a different country to run an illegal gambling business might not be clean and have the plans to scam gamblers through their gambling platform. However, gambling is illegal in main China and if you are caught running a gambling syndicate, you have committed an organized crime. Maybe, that was why these guys left China down to Indonesia to commit this crime but get bursted by Indonesia immigration.

It was only because gambling is illegal in China, and they are operating illegal something in another country; the same punishment will still be served to them. I think there is more to it than just the gambling not being legal in their country; maybe it has more to do with the server, etc.

The law in Indonesia also prohibit gambling activities in that country just as it is in China. Both online and physical gambling setting are strictly prohibited and anyone caught may likely face a capital charge. It couldn't have being anywhere but where these syndicates believes that they can easily thrive with the illegal gambling service offering and make much profit and then exit the scene before the government could even notice. But it seems luck ran out on this ones.

The people that was arrested in Indonesia knows about the law and how it doesn't allow the operation of gamblers but because they see means to operate without being caught that could be the reason why they decided to move to the country where tr security is not too tight for them to run their gambling business and move back to their own country. Now that the government has arrested these set of people that was found running the illegal gambling business more gambling business will be operated in the area because the government may think they have arrested them all not knowing that they have already have their different areas of operation.

[ArabBTC]

Am wondering why they have to pull up from their country just to create an illegal gambling syndicate in another person’s country, if they have such resources to start up a gambling network why don’t they just build a legal casino and make legal profit. There is lots of money in casinos business so to me it is better they had just done it legally and still make profits or is gambling prohibited in Indonesia? Anyways scammers will always remain scammers probably it was easier for them to enter Indonesia as compared to stricter restrictions in other countries but either way they have been caught and the law would take its toll on them.

[Die_empty]

The law in Indonesia also prohibit gambling activities in that country just as it is in China. Both online and physical gambling setting are strictly prohibited and anyone caught may likely face a capital charge. It couldn't have being anywhere but where these syndicates believes that they can easily thrive with the illegal gambling service offering and make much profit and then exit the scene before the government could even notice. But it seems luck ran out on this ones.

Some criminals choose countries where there is a high rate of corruption. It would be easier to bribe government officials in Indonesia than in China. In China, bribery could lead to hard punishment that include death sentence. Even in my country, Chinese nationals are known to engage in several unlawful businesses because they can easily get away with it. I hope they will be punished for this offense because they are exploiting the people and the government.

[EugeniaX]

That’s a pretty serious crackdown, makes it even more important to check who actually operates a gambling site before depositing, including places like Vega.

[Nightwatchmare]

Gambling is prohibited in China and Indonesia but in China if you are caught of corruption or breaking any legal law that helps China to strive as a country you will go in for it and if the penalty of the crime you committed require you to be killed either by hanging, shooting or in electric chair you will be killed. So i think China nationals did not open casino in China and operate illegal gambling but choose Indonesia as a place to do that because it could be that the penalty for large scale of illegal gambling in China is more severe than that of Indonesia.

[ZeroVinsonN]

Don't be surprised that it's these people that do go to a different country to run an illegal gambling business might not be clean and have the plans to scam gamblers through their gambling platform. However, gambling is illegal in main China and if you are caught running a gambling syndicate, you have committed an organized crime. Maybe, that was why these guys left China down to Indonesia to commit this crime but get bursted by Indonesia immigration.

Or maybe they were basically running from their home countries, it's not completely out of place to think that maybe they committed crimes back home before leaving, they are probably in Indonesia illegally, things like this happen alot these days.
They've been caught and hopefully if they are other chains of gambling syndicates connected to them then the authorities can also find and arrest them as well. You don't leave your own country to wreak this kind of damage in someone else's country, hopefully more will be caught like this.

[_act_]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

In the country that they come from, the regulators there may easily know illegal gambling. It can be because the cost to set up to gambling sites will be less in the other that they went to. It can be because they want to avoid strict regulations and so many other reasons. But I think crypto regulation in Indonesia should be strict because they do not make gambling legal. The person that are operating the illegal gambling will be the best that can answer this, but I think I have mentioned one or more of the reasons.

[Somegory]

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia's Immigration Office has arrested five foreign nationals from China and Vietnam suspected of being part of an international online gambling syndicate.

According to Banten Immigration Office Head Barron Ichsan, the five foreigners were arrested following an inspection of their place of stay on September 7, during which officers found "an unreasonable number of electronic devices operating automatically."

"During the inspection, our officers confiscated one computer, one laptop, and 26 cellphones," Ichsan said of the operation in his remarks on Saturday.

I think this is the second time I’m seeing cases of a country arresting foreigners who are said to be operating illegal gambling businesses in the country, which brings me to the question of why someone would leave their own country and go to the country of others just to open up an illegal gambling business.

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

They are fools who believed at one time that they are smart, so what is the end gain now? I will never understand why people likes to do things the wrong way, running a legal online casino costs far less to be risking shits.

Even if they have to Pauly their way outs now they will be paying so much money to secure their freedom, this is a very stupid plan that I will never understand.

I guess it was the same reasons why they don't want to run their operations in their own country, to escape the legal process of running a online casino.

[moneystery]

Even this kind of news tickles me a bit because if you go to the PIK area (one of the special areas in the Indonesian capital) you'll see so many mainland Chinese people, and other foreigners who can live as freely as if they had their own country, and the gambling activities there are huge, even though Indonesia has strict rules banning gambling.
So it's possible that these people are just unlucky and become scapegoats for their rivals here who have backing from local authorities.
No need to be hypocritical, Indonesia is one of those with a big gambling market, even though gambling is illegal here, and most of the operators are foreigners working together with local authorities. That's why banning hundreds of thousands of illegal gambling sites so far by the local authorities is useless because their network is already much bigger than that.

[Smartprofit]

Don't be surprised that it's these people that do go to a different country to run an illegal gambling business might not be clean and have the plans to scam gamblers through their gambling platform. However, gambling is illegal in main China and if you are caught running a gambling syndicate, you have committed an organized crime. Maybe, that was why these guys left China down to Indonesia to commit this crime but get bursted by Indonesia immigration.

Or maybe they were basically running from their home countries, it's not completely out of place to think that maybe they committed crimes back home before leaving, they are probably in Indonesia illegally, things like this happen alot these days.
They've been caught and hopefully if they are other chains of gambling syndicates connected to them then the authorities can also find and arrest them as well. You don't leave your own country to wreak this kind of damage in someone else's country, hopefully more will be caught like this.

I don't think this is an escape, but rather an expansion of an existing business. 🙋

Imagine you're the owner of an illegal online casino in China  or Vietnam. You want to scale your business. Specifically, you want to attract Indonesian players to your casino. But how do you do that? Not all players are willing to deposit cryptocurrency. Many are used to making all payments through mobile banking or local digital wallets.

Being in China and Vietnam, you won't be able to accept such payments. Even a VPN won't help. Therefore, you need your employees to be physically present in Indonesia...

That's why five foreigners with a large number of smartphones went to Indonesia. Their mission was to set up a processing center in the country. Well, we know the end of that story. Their mission failed.🤷

[SatsPH]

I think this is the second time I’m seeing cases of a country arresting foreigners who are said to be operating illegal gambling businesses in the country, which brings me to the question of why someone would leave their own country and go to the country of others just to open up an illegal gambling business.

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

It's because gambling is a lucrative business, and mostly they operate in Asia because the law is lax and they can pay the police protection money, similar here in our casino wherein there are a lot of Chinese nationals running illegal gambling.

Maybe some of them are caught, but most high ranking officers of the criminal syndicate remains at large and still could be running their illegal casinos somewhere. It's good that the Indonesian government didn't tolerate it specially they are a Muslim country.

[Ziskinberg]

Both China and Vietnam strictly prohibit gambling, so I don't think they will pour all their gambling businesses there and compromised them after. But I don't understand either why they landed up in Indonesia where gambling business is not welcome, except for those seriously protected by the big heads there. Because for sure no matter how strict a country is, there will always be hidden gambling casinos that will continue to operate, and most of their users are those highly profiled people that wants high privacy.

But just to show to the citizens that the authorities are working against gambling, they should have to present cases like this where gambling suspects are being arrested. This way, they will gain recognition from the people.

[Hispo]

Can't they open and operate such from wherever they are? Do they need to live in the country since the casino is illegal and they don’t own any physical office?

Criminals usually base their operations in countries where they perceive there is a weakest law enforcement and at the same time, where there is a possible illegal market for them to exploit.
In China law enforcement is stronger and more effective than in Indonesia, or at least that is the perception of criminals, so they move there for the opportunity to make money and the smaller chances of getting caught committing a crime.

That is the same reason why there are illegal alcohol brewers in Muslim communities or countries, because it is illegal and there is a lucrative market, if law enforcement happens to be ineffective, then even better for those criminals.

[salad daging]

I believe there are insiders, whether it is from the government or people who have money so that foreigners can make illegal gambling business in the country of Indonesia.

In January, Indonesian police arrested 20 people who run international gambling sites including 1XBET and WE88 casino own ANN on Bitcointalk.
- https://news.detik.com/berita/d-8290993/4-fakta-bareskrim-tangkap-20-tersangka-judol-jaringan-internasional

News in May, Indonesian police arrested as many as 321 foreigners who operate online gambling, with a transaction volume of around Rp40 trillion equivalent to more than $2 billion.
- https://thestance.id/ratusan-wna-operator-judol-ditangkap-polisi-deteksi-markas-judol-pindah-ke-indonesia

The question is: what’s the situation in Indonesia regarding these two indicators:
- Legal restrictions on gambling and penalties for violating the law?
- To what extent is the population prone to gambling?

Laws against gambling will be strictly enforced, for those who violate will be arrested in prison.
Very massive population of indonesia playing online gambling.