Nepal Blocks Over 223,000 Betting and Illegal Financial Websites Since FIFA World Cup
साउन ८, २०८३ २१:३९
Kathmandu. The government has blocked more than 223,000 websites and applications linked to online betting and illegal financial activities since the FIFA World Cup, according to the Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA).
The authority said a total of 223,568 betting and illegal financial transaction websites and apps have been shut down as part of the government's ongoing effort to curb online gambling and cyber-enabled financial crimes.
The crackdown follows the government's decision on March 27 to include online betting and scam prevention among its 100 administrative reform initiatives. Under the reform agenda, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology was tasked with blocking betting websites and related platforms within 24 hours of their identification.
Despite the enforcement campaign, the NTA said operators continue to launch new betting websites under different names after existing domains are blocked. The authority has therefore continued monitoring and blocking newly identified platforms.
The Prime Minister's Office also intensified its focus on the issue during the FIFA World Cup amid concerns that online betting activity could surge during the tournament. In response, the NTA formed a dedicated task force to coordinate enforcement efforts.
Om Prakash Mahato, assistant director and telecommunications engineer at the NTA and a member of the task force, said internet service providers (ISPs) were instructed to immediately block the URLs of identified betting and illegal financial websites.
According to Mahato, manually identifying thousands of new domains is challenging. Instead, the authority works with authorized agencies that detect suspicious websites, after which ISPs are instructed to restrict access to those domains.
The authority said the biggest challenge remains the rapid emergence of new websites after existing ones are blocked. To address this, it uses threat intelligence tools and a dedicated technical team to continuously detect and disable newly created domains.
The NTA has also encouraged the public to report suspected betting and illegal financial websites by submitting information through its official GitHub reporting platform.
पछिल्लो अध्यावधिक: साउन ८, २०८३ २१:३९
