Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said on Thursday that four members of a gang involved in swindling money from mobile banking users through cloning SIM cards have been arrested from Dhaka, Jamalpur and Faridpur. The arrestees have been identified as mobile banking platform bKash’s sacked Distributor Sales Officer (DSOs) Shariar Nafiz alias Milton, Md Ripon Mia, Md Yosuf Miah, and Mahbub Kazi. Of them Mahbub is the said to be the mastermind of the gang. Nine mobile phone sets and 57 SIM cards were also seized from the possession of the arrestees during the drives on Wednesday, said Md Rezaul Masud, a special superintendent of police at cyber police center of CID at its headquarters in the city. A bKash agent lodged a complaint to the CID that he received a phone call from the office of bKash DSO asking him to help them update information. He further said that the fraudsters embezzled Tk 10, 7000 through cloning his SIM card after the bKash agent provided them with One Time Password (OTP). Following the complaint, the CID members in cooperation with the CPC conducted a drive in Jamalpur district and arrested Milton and Ripon on Wednesday, the CID officer said. Read: CID gets new head in Md Ali Mia; other new postings in police Upon information from the duo, Yousuf and mastermind Mahbub were rounded up from the Dhaka’s Mohammadpur and Faridpur in this connection on the same day, he said. In the preliminary interrogation, Mahbub confessed to swindling Tk 15 lakh from the mobile banking users through paid version cloning apps for the last three months, the intelligence officer continued. A case was filed under Digital Security Act at Paltan Police Station in this connection, he added.

Detectives conducted simultaneous drives in the capital’s Tejgaon area and Jhalakathi district on Tuesday and arrested three ‘fraudsters’ on charge of embezzling money in the name of  conducting Covid-19 test. The arrestees are Abdullah Alamin Managing Director of TKS group, its chairman Abul Hasan Tushar and marketing manager Mohammad Shahin Mia. Various types of fake documents including appointment letters, ID cards, visiting cards, tax certificates and computers were recovered from their possessions. Briefing reporters at the DMP’s media centre here on Wednesday, Joint Commissioner of DB (North Division) Mohammad Harun Ur Rashid said the fraudsters formed an organisation named TKS Healthcare Service located on the 2nd floor at Al Razi Complex of Shaheed Sayed Nazrul Islam Sarani in Dhaka city. Then they applied for permission to conduct  Covid-19 test to the Health Ministry on July 11. READ: 4 members of teen gang ‘Gazi group’ held in Dhaka In their application, they mentioned that a total of 5,126 health workers are ready to conduct free Covid-19 tests in eight divisions, 64 districts, 492 upazilas and 4,562 unions of Bangladesh, he said. He said as they knew that they would not get permission from the Health Ministry to set up booths, recruit people and set up camps they made fake documents for sample collection, recruitment and setting up of camps. Using the fake documents, the fraudsters  embezzled money from people in the name of recruiting various persons as Upazila Co-coordinators and Field Officers of Dhaka and Jhalakathi districts, the DB (North Division) said. They were trying to embezzle a total of Tk 2 crore in the name of giving dealership of each camp. He also urged people to remain aware of fraudulence in the name of conducting Covid-19 test." If anyone sets up camp in the name of free Covid-19 test then inform police and police will take action.” A case has been filed against the arrestees with Shahbagh police station.