Fraud gang steals bKash money in 30 seconds

The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police recently arrested four members of a fraud gang, in Dhaka and Chattogram, that allegedly stole money from people's bKash accounts.

Police seized 15 mobile phone sets and 20 SIMs from their possession, said sources.

Law enforcement sources said later, the leader of the gang, Jubayeer Islam, was arrested in Bagerhat.

The arrestees are: Mukul Haulader, Shamim Molla, Shahidul Islam, and Masudur Rahman.

Mahidul Islam, additional deputy commissioner of the DB, confirmed the news to The Business Standard.

Saying that with a strong network across the country, members of the gang cheated people for two years, he said, "After arresting the leader and four members, we are now looking for other members of the gang."

DB sources said two years ago, Jubayeer formed the Bagerhat-based gang which has at least 20 members across the country now. All its members are from Bagerhat.

"We found a tally book from Shahidul Islam, containing detailed information about their transactions. The gang maintained the book for keeping account of how the stolen money was shared among them," they said.

Sources said some members of the gang, including Shahidul, collected bKash numbers from agent shops. They took photos of the register khata pages of agent shops, secretly, and shared the numbers with other members of the gang.

"After collecting the number of account holders, they called the account holders as customer care representatives, asking for a PIN number. They insisted that the PIN number was needed for upgrading the account," claimed DB sources, adding that using the PIN number, the gang members then stole money from people's bKash accounts within 30 seconds.

"From the victim's bKash accounts, they sent the money to four particular bKash accounts, opened using fake National Identity (NID) numbers. Then the members distributed the money among themselves," they added.