The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has asked for information on individuals involved with the online scam by Metaverse Foreign Exchange Group Incorporated (MTFE) that recently ceased its operation after siphoning off at least Tk20,000 crore from Bangladeshi investors using cryptocurrency.
CID has also initiated several channels for victims to report details related to the online scam, said Additional Police Superintendent Azad Rahman on Friday.
Mentioning that CID's cyber intelligence team is closely monitoring the situation, Azad Rahman advised affected customers to lodge their complaints through the CID Cyber Police Centre.
CID said that MTFE was a Canada and Dubai-based organization involved in the online and virtual trading of dollars, shares, and cryptocurrencies.
“The MTFE app invited customers to invest in the stock market, handling transactions on their shadow platform. The app gained popularity in several countries across Africa and Asia,” it said.
One can contact CID through its Facebook page or email at cyber@police.gov.bd.
The CID official added that victims could also contact them through its 24-hour contact numbers, 01320010148 or 999.
MTFE’s journey in Bangladesh
According to CID, while MTFE did not have a physical presence in Bangladesh, its operations began in January this year.
They widely promoted their platform on social media platforms, like Facebook and YouTube, as an easy way to earn money from home.
Various videos and ads made many people in Bangladesh interested, with the majority getting involved after seeing others join. In this, referral or multi-level marketing (MLM) played a role.
Hoping for substantial returns, hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshi people invested in this app.
A few, however, managed to gain a fraction of profits, but the majority of customers ultimately lost their investments when the illicit online gambling company ceased its operation last Saturday.
The highest number of fraud incidents were reported in Dhaka, Barisal, Naogaon, Kushtia, Brahmanbaria, Rajshahi, Comilla, and Satkhira.
CID estimated that 400,000-500,000 customers nationwide have lost several billions through the MTFE app.
CID officials further said that the MTFE app could be easily downloaded from the Google Play Store and required registration.
Post-registration, customers needed to maintain a balance in dollars for trading. Depending on the dollar amount, they were regularly enticed with promises of profits.
Investors were lured with claims like a daily profit of Tk5,000 on an investment of $500.
To register, customers had to provide bank account details and their national identity card (NID).
Even though virtual trading was done in cryptocurrency and dollars, most payments were made via mobile banking, CID said.
CID Additional Police Superintendent Azad Rahman mentioned that not just MTFE, but several unregistered mobile application-based scam schemes are still active in Bangladesh.
“As Bangladeshi law prohibits MLM business and cryptocurrency transactions, investors in any app or online-based businesses need to exercise caution,” he added.