In May last year, members of the police’s Rapid Action Battalion (RAB-5) busted a ring of fraudsters and arrested five operatives from Lalpur Upazila in Natore based on complaints. During interrogation, they confessed to hacking Imo accounts and extorting money from people for a long time. The elite force filed a case and handed them over to the local police.
Now dozens of such gangs are active in the upazila and have chosen hacking as an easy income source and bought luxurious houses and cars with the money. Imo hacking and blackmailing have now become an open secret in the area as the ring leaders pick new members—mostly teenagers and youths—and continue to expand their cheating business.
The men from many villages under Lalpur Upazila, mainly those from Bilaimari Union, have become skilled in this matter. They have observed that by working in small groups using a phone, they can earn a significant amount of money online with minimal effort.
The hackers need persuasion and skills to mimic the voices of women to make friends with their targets. They are also very prompt in identifying themselves as officials of various popular organizations to convince the targets, and they talk for a long time to build trust.
Over the past three years, around 50-200 teenagers, youths, and people of different classes and professions have been involved in this hacking. Local police say at least 50 cases have been filed against the criminals in recent months.
Sometimes, the victims do not want to pursue the cases, even if they complain, to avoid humiliation. The police also file cases, but the hackers get involved in the crime again after securing bail. Getting out of jail, they become more influential and skilled at dodging the law enforcers.
Media reports suggest that cyber criminals extorting people by hacking Facebook, Telegram, and mobile financial services, and blackmailing targets are very common nowadays.
How they do it
Usually, a fraudster contacts an expatriate Bangladeshi via Facebook, using a fake name and picture of a girl or woman, and tries to convince them in various ways. At one point, the fraudster would give a proposal for a love affair and seek his Imo number.
Since most expatriates use Imo for communication with their near and dear ones, the fraudsters want to get the Imo number of the targets while luring video calls.
An associate of the fraudster would create an account using the Imo number of the target person. The next step is to capture the one-time password (OTP). As soon as the target provides the OTP, the gang will log in to the account.
Later, the gang members will start observing the phone calls and text messages sent and received by the target and calling his friends and relatives to demand money on various excuses.
In such cases, they sometimes realize money from relatives by mimicking the target’s voice, impersonating a relative’s voice, or by threatening the target with spreading confidential information and making it viral.
Is police action adequate?
College student Bijoy and mason Kiron from Bilmaria under Lalpur Upazila are experts in Imo hacking on their phones. They stepped on this path with the help of a hacker gang from the nearby village and earned hundreds of thousands of takas by blackmailing expatriate Bangladeshis and their families.
Recently, a Saudi expatriate from Shyampur village in Meherpur named Nazmul fell victim to such a fraud.
After hacking his Imo number, they sent a message to his wife, Mahabuba, saying that her husband had been arrested by the police. They said Tk3 lakh was needed immediately for his release. After sending the ransom money, she learned that everything was fake, and Nazmul was at work.
Later, detectives from Meherpur arrested Bijoy and Kiron based on Mahabuba's complaint.
She said: “The fraudsters kept giving me phone numbers one after another to send them money. After I sent Tk3.12 lakh, my husband called me, and I came to know that they hacked his Imo account.”
Bilaimari Union Parishad Chairman Siddique Ali Mistu said that the Imo hackers work secretly. “I am fed up with their activities. Drug addicts, unemployed youths, and some students are with these gangs. It has now turned into a social disorder in his area.”
He alleged that some officials in the administration were also involved in this forgery. “The fraudsters do these things through various agreements with the officials and enjoy impunity. It has now turned into a profitable business.”
Sub-Inspector Rezaul of Lalpur police station said: “The hackers are very cautious. But we conduct raids whenever we have any information and arrest them.”
Officer-in-Charge Nasim Ahmed said they have declared zero tolerance against these Imo fraudsters.
In 2023, police arrested 18 fraudsters, and one has been arrested this year. RAB and other forces also arrested Imo hackers at various times.
Deputy Commissioner Abu Naser Bhuiyan said: “This is a cybercrime. We are trying to stop this crime through the enforcement of laws and public awareness.”