CID arrests 3 foreigners for allegedly swindling Tk 22.68 lakh
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) today said they have arrested three foreign nationals from the capital's Bashundhara area, who allegedly work in a gang that swindles money from unsuspecting targets through various ruses.
CID conducted the drive in the early hours of Thursday and arrested the three after a Bangladeshi man -- Ariful Islam Faisal -- filed a complaint against the three for embezzling Tk 22.68 lakh from him.
The arrestees are Nguegang Tegomo Bertin, 47, Nguenang Towoserge Christian, 38, and Ekongo Ernast Ibrahim, 42.
The arrestees have not revealed their nationalities yet and none had passports, but they are believed to be citizens of Cameroon and Kenya, said Sheikh Mohammad Rezaul Haider, additional deputy inspector general (DIG) of CID.
"They have been staying in Bangladesh for a long period. They form relationships with various people through social media, and then extort money from them by luring them with promises of expensive gifts," said the CID officer.
HOW THE CON DEVELOPS
They first develop a relationship with targets by pretending to be citizens of developed countries like the USA or UK.
The endgame of the relationship is to swindle large sums of money through various ruses, including the promise of sending expensive gifts and offering to take them to the developed country. For purposes of the fraudulent relationship, they identify themselves as female if the target is male, and male if the target is female.
Regarding the process in this case, Rezaul Haider said that the arrestees used a Facebook ID of a female called "Genitari", from USA, to build a relationship with victim Ariful Islam.
"Genitari said she would send gifts to Faisal through a diplomatic courier agent," said the official.
Later, a member of the gang pretending to be a courier agent called the victim and said he had expensive products inside the package and that he [Arif] needs to pay to release it. Through the process, they collected money from the victim in phases, according to officials.
"With promises of providing expensive gifts and the lure of sending him to the USA, the gang members collected around Tk 22.68 lakh from Faisal in two phases," said DIG Haider.
"We have found some locals are also linked with the racket. We are now conducting drives to arrest other members," he added.