A phone call tells a parent their child has been arrested with drugs. Money must be sent immediately to prevent a case.
Then comes a voice sounding like their son, crying and asking for help.
By the time the family discovers that the student is safe and was never arrested, the money may already be gone.
Families of current and former University of Dhaka students have reported a series of such scams, with fraudsters posing as police or Detective Branch officials and using personal information and familiar-sounding voices to make their stories convincing.
Some families have lost tens of thousands of taka, while one father transferred Tk1.5 lakh.
An earlier report in August cited complaints involving more than 20 DU-linked families.
The incidents are also raising questions about how scammers obtain detailed personal information and whether voice-cloning technology is being used, although there is no forensic evidence establishing the use of artificial intelligence in the reported cases.
The family of a former DU student recently received a call claiming he had been arrested with drugs.
The caller demanded Tk3.5 lakh to prevent a case from being filed.
The family initially suspected fraud, but became alarmed after hearing a voice resembling the student.
They later contacted him directly and found him safe at work.
The scammers also knew personal information about him, including his late father’s workplace, information he said he had once provided on a university form.
There is, however, no evidence that the information came from university records.
In May, the father of DU Linguistics student Mostafa Arifuzzaman Arif received a call from someone claiming to be a DB official.
He was told his son had been arrested with drugs and would be sent to court.
A voice resembling Arif’s was then played, apparently crying and asking for help.
His father transferred Tk1 lakh and later another Tk50,000 before discovering that Arif had never been arrested.
The family subsequently filed a general diary with Satkhira Sadar Police Station.
The family of DU student Mudachchir Abir reportedly lost Tk60,000 through a similar scheme, while scammers demanded Tk30,000 from the family of Nesar Uddin Jihad, a student attached to Masterda Surya Sen Hall. Jihad’s family contacted him before sending money.
Fraudsters have also fabricated road accidents and medical emergencies.
Cybersecurity officials say access to personal details can make such stories significantly more convincing.
Anindya Bhattacharya, assistant director of the National Cyber Security Agency, said scammers may verify personal information before creating stories involving arrests, accidents or medical emergencies to pressure families into making quick decisions.
Md Saidul Islam, assistant registrar of DU, said the university informs relevant law enforcement agencies when complaints are received and also needs to review where students’ personal information is stored and who can access it.
Additional Police Commissioner of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime Mohammad Shamsul Haque said current technology can imitate characteristics of a person’s voice from a short audio sample, but warned that AI use cannot be established merely by listening to a recording.
He advised victims to preserve phone numbers, recordings, messages and transaction records as evidence.
Saidul urged families not to transfer money immediately, even if they hear a familiar voice.
Instead, they should first call the family member directly on a known number and independently verify any claim of arrest, accident or hospitalization with the relevant police station or hospital.
