Police have arrested a Kenyan and two Cameroonians for allegedly scamming people into losing huge sums of money through the social media.
They arrests were made late on Wednesday from Dhaka’s Vatara following a raid conducted by the Members of the Organized Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The arrestees are Solayman alias Nguegang Tegomo Bertin, 47, Nguenang Towoserge Christian, 38, and Ekongo Ernast Ibrahim, 42.
The trio were running an internet scam ring where they would befriend people on Facebook, using fake IDs. and take huge sums of money in the form of gifts, said CID.
CID's Additional DIG Sheikh Mohammad Rezaul Haider confirmed the matter at a press conference at the CID office on Thursday afternoon.
The arrestees were aggressive and attacked police personnel at the time of their arrest, he said.
“We know that they have been living in Bangladesh since 2018. None of them had any passport with them. We assume they do not have valid visas and have been staying in Bangladesh illegally,” he added.
The three men had taken huge amounts of money from different people through social media. Bangladeshi nationals are also involved with these fraudsters and the law enforcers are trying to find them, said the official.
Rezaul Haider said the arrested members of the fraud ring developed friendship with a victim, Mohammad Ariful Islam alias Faisal, by using a fake female ID on social media named Janetery, identified as an American and told Ariful to send gifts through a courier agent.
The ring extorted Tk8.7 lakh in cash and Tk13.98 lakh through banks at different times by promising to send gift items to the victim Ariful Islam Faisal. In total, the three members of this ring swindled Faisal out of Tk22.68 lakh, he said.
Asked if there was any information about the number of African nationals involved in scams in Bangladesh, the DIG said: “We can't say anything specific, but not everyone who is involved in the scam belongs to the same group.”
“Such kinds of fraud have two, three or five members in a group. So it is not possible to say exactly how many groups there are. However, we will be able to give details by interrogating the arrested foreigners,” he added.
