9 arrested in Bagerhat over SIM cloning, mobile banking fraud

Police have arrested nine members of an alleged inter-district fraud gang accused of cloning SIM cards and stealing money from bKash and Nagad accounts in Bagerhat.

Police also recovered 11 mobile handsets, 20 SIM cards and Tk80,000 allegedly stolen from customers, Bagerhat Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Jamirul Islam said at a press conference at his office around 11am today (29 September).

Four people were initially arrested in connection with the case, while five more suspects were arrested yesterday, bringing the total number of arrests to nine.

The arrested suspects are Yasin Sardar, 21; Shamim Sheikh, 27; Rashed Morol, 20; Ehsanul Hasan Rakib, 32; Ferdaus, 21; Ashraful Islam, 26; Mehedi Hasan, 29; Md Nazmul Hasan, 20; and Md Mamun Gazi, 21.

The investigation began after a case was filed over the theft of Tk2.5 lakh from the bKash and Nagad accounts of two businessmen in the Chila Bazar area of Mongla upazila on 27 June.

SP Jamirul Islam said the gang used business SIM cards and digital techniques to defraud mobile banking customers.

According to him, the suspects digitally cloned victims' fingerprints and used them to obtain replacement SIM cards linked to their bKash and Nagad accounts.

They then contacted customer care centres, claiming their accounts had been blocked and needed to be reactivated.

The gang had prepared answers to common security questions asked by customer care representatives. Members also made small transactions themselves so they could provide transaction details when asked, the police officer said.

Once the callers' answers appeared satisfactory, customer care representatives believed they were speaking to the legitimate account holders and restored access to the accounts, he added.

A case has been filed with Mongla Police Station under the Digital Security Act, according to police.

Police are investigating whether other people were involved in the alleged fraud.