Covid-19 Pandemic: Cybercriminals on the prowl
With people mostly staying home and spending more time online due to the ongoing pandemic, a group of criminals are active and swindling crores of taka through duping them on social media.
Online gambling, job offers, selling or buying foreign currencies, special offers on products and sending gifts worth million dollars -- are some of the techniques these perpetrators were found using for deceiving people, according to law enforcers.
In just one month, law enforcers have arrested over 50 people over online scams.
AFM Al Kibria, deputy commissioner of cyber crime unit of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) unit, told The Daily Star that as people are now spending more time on online platforms, a group of unscrupulous people are taking advantage of that.
"Earlier, around 15 to 20 people used to complain about cyber-related issues. After the pandemic, we have started receiving some eight to 10 more complaints daily," he said. He further said law enforcers are looking into each complaint and taking appropriate measures.
On July 27, police's Detective Branch (DB) arrested two persons -- Shakil Khan (22) and Jubayed Hasan Richi (32) -- from Dakkhinkhan area of the capital for their involvement in online gambling.
"Arrestees are members of organised rackets, who swindled around Tk 13 crore through their mobile financial accounts from many by operating an online casino," Abdul Ahad, deputy commissioner of DB police of Wari Division, told The Daily Star.
On July 26, a team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested Mithun Sarker (29) from Faridpur for selling fake VIP SIM cards.
Mithun used to post in social media that he has VIP SIMs. Once someone agreed to buy one, he asked for the full amount (Tk 15 to 20 thousands) first through mobile banking accounts and told the buyer to visit the customer care.
After getting the money, he used to block the customers' numbers.
On July 17, a team of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab-2) arrested seven people from Eastern Plaza market for selling dummy phones after advertising those as smartphones online.
On July 10, a team of Rab-4 arrested three persons from Mohakhali for swindling money from people in the name of providing them with jobs.
They used to advertise on social media about jobs with a monthly salary of Tk 40,000 to Tk 50,000. They collected Tk 1,000 from applicants as "application fees" and Tk 8,000 to Tk 10,000 more for "training purposes".
In the last couple of weeks, the CID and CTTC unit have arrested 41 people, including 35 Africans, for duping people on social media. The officials said that they came to know that the arrestees have swindled around Tk 8 crore from people.
The arrestees are members of an organised racket, who swindled money from people in the name of developing friendship on social media and alluring them with expensive gifts, they added. They befriend people, pretending to be citizens of countries like the US or UK.
After a while, they call people through their Bangladeshi associates and identify themselves as custom officials to collect money as customs duty for the expensive gifts, said investigators.
For the last two weeks, over dozens of people have submitted complaints to the CID control room in this regard, said Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider, additional deputy inspector general of CID. These rackets also use educated Bangladeshi youths to communicate with their targets, he said.
"They call the so-called Bangladeshi friends in three to four phases using different numbers -- first as courier agents, customs officials and then as embassy officials. By this time, that person is convinced that an expensive gift is waiting for him," he said.
He said the officials are looking into the complaints and online scams. Meanwhile, people should remain alert and inform law enforcers if they receive such strange offers online, said the CID official.
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