DB arrests 11 members of parcel fraud gang
Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police has arrested 11 people including the mastermind of a parcel fraud ring.
According to DB, the ring leader Biplab Lashkar who used to be a porter became a millionaire through fraudulent activities.
On Monday (5 September), the web-based crime investigation team of the Cyber and Special Crime (North) Division of the DB arrested him and his gang members through raids in various areas including Mirpur in the capital.
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The arrestees are Biplab Lashkar, his associates Sumon Hossain alias Imran, Mohsin Hossain alias Shaon, Imran Hasan alias Iqbal, Nazmul Haque Roni and Mst Nusrat Jahan.
Besides, Nigerian citizens Chidi, Emmanuel, John, Angolan citizen Wilson de Consicou, and Cameroonian citizen Gulgni Papini were arrested in the raids.
In a press conference held at DMP Media Centre on Tuesday (6 September), DB Chief Additional Commissioner Mohammad Harun or Rashid said the group used various methods to collect the Facebook ID, WhatsApp, e-mail addresses of common people and use different identities like US Army, US Navy etc to develop friendly relations with the targeted persons.
"At one point in the relationship, they sent pictures of fake parcels, pretending to send gifts of gold, precious stones, diamonds, large sums of foreign currency etc," he told the media.
Bangladeshi fraudsters used a number of different operators to impersonate customs officers and claimed that a parcel has arrived from "King Express Service" and demanded a huge amount of money in the name of customs house fees.
They used to block the victims on all social media platforms as soon as the money they claimed was deposited into the bank account they provided, the DB chief added.
DB officials said that the gang forged the passports of various individuals and took hundreds of accounts and credit cards in various banks for transactions of their money gained through cheating.
Biplab Lashkar used to collect and distribute money. He had been directly monitoring the gang through WhatsApp using numbers of different foreign countries.
