Fraudster’s 3-yr run ended by DB
It's good to learn from mistakes, but it's another thing entirely when the lessons from a mishap goes on its own tangent of more errors.
Take the case of 21-year-old Saikat Hossain Bhuyan alias Topu, who, rather than taking the lessons of his digital defraud, chose to become a fraudster himself!
It all started in 2017. After the year's SSC exams had ended, Topu started spending a lot of his free time on Facebook.
While browsing some groups, he came across some interesting posts. They read something like this: "Contact inbox to change your results. Results can be changed officially."
Unsatisfied and in fear with his own exam results, he contacted one of the posters for help. He was told to pay them Tk 1,500 in exchange of any result he preferred. But soon after he send them the money, the person blocked all communication channels and just... disappeared.
It took Topu a while to realise he had been defrauded. But instead of learning the lesson and steering clear of similar traps, his takeaway was polar opposite -- "Why not start something like this myself?" he thought. It seemed easy enough, and carried the potential to earn big bucks.
Topu proceeded to open up around 28 e-mail accounts and 19 Facebook profiles. Curiously, on some of his Facebook accounts, he used pictures of the education minister, public service commission chair, and the education ministry secretary! It might seem bizarre, but Topu had plans.
He started to post on Facebook groups with the same promise to change people's results. This was done on two levels. With one profile he would make the post, and then with others comment on it, saying things like "You saved my life!" and "Thank you, you did a lot for me" to add credibility to his offer.
Soon enough, customers started flowing in. Once contacted, Topu would ask them for their marksheets and ask from Tk 1,500 to 6,000, depending on the customer's requirement.
Once someone expressed interest, it was time for his high-profile fake profiles to come into play. He would chat with these fake profiles from his business-profile, and ask the "ministers" to help with the customer's results.
He would then take screenshots of these conversations and send them back to the customers, so that they can trust him and feel secure sending money.
But then, in exact emulation of his own experience, once the money arrived, Topu would be gone.
This correspondent came to know of this from the police's Detective Branch (DB), who arrested Topu on Monday.
SM Rezaul Hoque, additional deputy commissioner of DB, told The Daily Star, "Upon receiving information that someone is duping people by impersonating ministers, we initiated digital surveillance and got trace of Topu."
On Monday, police conducted a drive in the capital's Khilkhet area and arrested Topu from in front of the Regency Hotel, said Rezaul, who led the drive."In the last three years, he has defrauded hundreds of people, scamming each for Tk 1,000 to Tk 6,000."
Investigating transaction details from Topu's mobile financial account between October and December of last year, the DB team found evidence of around Tk 6.90 lakh worth of exchanges. The Daily Star has also obtained a copy of the transaction history.
Mashiur Rahman, deputy commissioner of DB police, said they are trying to find out whether there were more people involved in Topu's scheme.
Though it earned him a monthly income of around a lakh to a-lakh-and-a-half for the last three years, according to Rezaul, Topu now stares at a hefty fine and a prolonged period in jail.
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