Many become penniless in the trap of easy income
Picture: Collected
Rakib Hasan (pseudonym), a resident of Farmgate Indira Road area of Sher Bangla Nagar police station in the capital, a private financial institution officer by profession. He earns well from the company. On January 7 of this year, Rakib received a text message from an unknown number on his mobile phone. It was written in the message, the opportunity to earn Tk. 2 thousand to Tk. 80 thousand a day by working only 10 to 15 minutes at home. Rakib did not want to miss the opportunity after receiving such a message. He was asked to contact the WhatsApp number attached with the SMS.
He was first asked to like and subscribe to a few YouTube channels. Rakib liked and subscribed to three YouTube channels. After a while, Tk. 60 came to his bkash number. Rakib does a few more jobs with the desire to earn money with just three clicks. After that, the opportunity to earn more money is offered more easily by buying the product. And this is how Rakib lost more than Tk. three lakh by stepping into the trap of the fraudulent circle without his knowledge. Later, he made a general diary (GD) in the police station in this incident. Almost two months after the incident, the fraudster is still missing.
Meanwhile, not only Rakib, many people are stepping into the trap of intimate fraudsters who can earn easily at home, get jobs without applying, video calls without being known. As a result, you are losing money before you know anything. However, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DB) has arrested several members of the fraud gang. But the masterminds of the cycle remain out of touch.
Detective police said that the number of such complaints is increasing day by day. Mainly because of more greed this kind of thing is happening. Hundreds of people are falling prey to the lure of easy income shown by fraudsters.
The victim Rakib (pseudonym) told Barta24.com that he contacted them out of curiosity after receiving a message on WhatsApp. A number of tasks are given. They paid some money. I do several tasks like this. Later they offered me a bigger task. In that task called VIP package task I was asked to buy 16 products. There were different types of products including clothes which they have laid out. For the price of this product, I send Tk. 3 lakh 18 thousand to several bkash numbers. After sending this money they told me that I have to buy three more products. One lakh should be sent for this. If I don't send this money, they won't let me withdraw the Tk. 696,000 I earned against the Tk. 300,000 I sent. But then I saw that the website was closed. Then I realized that I was a victim of fraud. Later I do a General Diary (GD) at Sher Bangla Nagar Police Station. I have filed a complaint with GD and DB Cybercrime in this incident, but they have not arrested the accused yet.
He further said that this gang first communicated on WhatsApp but after stepping into their trap they communicated on Telegram. There is no access to any information outside of their control. The website they use also doesn't last more than 15-20 days. After several stages of trapping each person and taking the money, they cut off all communication. In the past few months I have seen this cycle of earning money from home not working with one person for more than 10 to 15 days. At first they show greed by giving some money, but later they trap and steal huge amount of money. bkash uses cash the most when it comes to receiving money. In addition, they also use bank accounts to withdraw large sums of money.
Barta24.com got the information of multiple bank accounts based on the words of the victim Rakib. Analyzing the information of an account opened in City Bank's Jashore branch, it can be seen that some fabricated words have been used in important information. In terms of the name, the address of MR Traders, Jashore Sadar is Haranadh Dutta Lane, but the address of the company was false. The store number given is zero. The Robi number used for communication also does not go through. Even if the important information including address is not correct, the transaction is going fine. Lakhs of takas are being deposited in the account from just a few mobile phones banking numbers.
Information technology expert Tanveer Hasan Joha told Barta24.com about the novel tricks and warnings of fraudsters, in our society, no one wants to leave the path of finding easy ways to earn more money. Not only in our country, it is all over the world. As a result, people are being cheated by the greed of this easy income. The scammers lured the home with flashy advertisements. Although they give some money first, the amount is 10 percent. By gaining trust in this way, they will block the communication by grabbing a large amount of money.
Urging the implementation of dual currency policy online and the arrest of domestic criminals, this technology expert said, there is a law in the matter of money coming into the country and sending abroad through mobile phone banking. Bangladesh Bank does not allow immediate conversion of recharged money in mobile phone banking into dollars or foreign currencies. Besides, there is a shortage of skilled manpower in the police to arrest online fraudsters. Also, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) does not have a cell to file complaints in this regard.
He said that although the number of such incidents is high, very few complaints go to the police station. Fraudsters are taking advantage of all this. Besides, the police force of 10 lakh has very little manpower in cybercrime. Most of those less than one lakh are not fully skilled. Our country needs a policy of arresting domestic criminals to prevent such fraud. Because now we see that staying in neighboring countries people of our country are being targeted and cheated.
He also said that most of the cases in which cyber criminals are arrested in our country are escaping through loopholes in the law. The root cause of which is faulty litigation along with lack of skills of investigation officers. As a result, even though the accused was arrested, the case did not progress further due to errors in the preservation of evidence and the location of the raid. As a result the result is zero. Criminals stay out of jail. Again, many are being brought under the law but are committing the same crime again with bail. Less than 20 cases of complaints filed in such incidents have been adjudicated. But the number of cases is numerous.
