Tk78 lakh swindle: Barishal madrasa student arrested as fraud racket crackdown begins
Ring members pretended to be foreigners on Facebook who wanted to start businesses in Bangladesh
Police arrested a fraudster on charges of swindling Tk78 lakh from a businessman by promising him a suitcase full of dollars.
Confirming the matter, Deputy Commissioner (South) Ali Ashraf Bhuiyan said Sohag Sheikh (24), a madrasa student, of Shariatpur's Naria upazila had four mobile phone sets and eight sim cards at the time of his arrested yesterday from the capital's Motijheel area.
He also had 86 ATM cards of 35 banks and 152 cheque books
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According to police, Sohag is on the first rung of a fraud syndicate, with most members believed to be abroad.
During primary interrogation, he admitted working for the fraud ring on a salary-basis, police said.
The swindle began last year when Ratneshwar Majhi (65), a resident of Barishal, received a call on his mobile number on 19 November 2023 from a person named Khairun Nessa, who identified himself as a civil aviation customs officer of Chattogram Airport.
He said a person named Elizabeth had sent a suitcase for Ratneshwar with a huge amount of dollars. In order to release the suitcase, the so-called customs officer said Ratneshwar would have to pay money at different levels of the customs.
Ratneshwar sent a total of Tk77.9 lakh to various bank accounts and different mobile banking numbers in a matter of 23 days.
Ratneshwar's suspicion was aroused when the customs officer demanded more money.
In December, he filed a case with the Model Police Station and investigations began.
During the investigation by police, information on the fraud circle was traced.
DC Ali Ashraf Bhuya said the police are working to arrest the remaining members of this gang, adding there were multiple cases against Sohag with different police stations.
He said the fraudsters first befriended their victims through a Facebook ID sporting a picture and a name of a foreigner.
The user then informs their victim that they are retired members of the army or police and want to come to Bangladesh to do business.
The cheating begins when the fraud claims to have sent a gift. The gift information is then verified by a person pretending to be a customs official to gain trust.
On the matter of the recovered ATM cards, police confirmed those also weren't registered with the ID of the fraudster, meaning another crime was committed in getting those.
Sohag, however, denied any involvement in the scam.
"I used to work on a salary-basis. I don't know who is at which level in this racket."
