Frauds posing as “Jinn-er Badshah” or the king of supernatural beings have been busy throughout Ramadan exploiting the religious sentiments of Muslims by duping them and demanding money with late-night phone calls.
Different gangs of such swindlers – mostly based in Gaibandha – trick people by offering them fake information about alleged valuable assets in exchange for money; while reluctance to pay money to the “Jinn-er Badshah” often ended in threats and intimidations over phone.
Seeking anonymity, a person who recently became the target of such a scam told the Dhaka Tribune that someone claiming to be “Jinn-er Badshah” called his mobile phone at 2:30am on July 10.
“From the phone number 01857124750, a person claiming to be Jinn-er Badshah called me and recited some verses from the Qur’an. Later, I was told that I will get different assets including a large amount of gold from God that was now buried in a secret place.
“The person who called said if I wanted to get the asset, which was valued at Tk74 crore, I will have to send him five jaynamaj [prayer mats]. When I asked him how and where to send it, he said I do not have to deliver the jaynamaj by hand, rather I have to send Tk3,050 to a phone number,” the victim said.
The voice on the other end told the victim that he would later be told about how much more needs to be paid for information on getting the asset.
Calls came repeatedly from the same number on the following day, but the victim did not answer any of those calls.
“When I received a call on July 13, he threatened me over phone that if I do not pay the money, God will harm to me.” The victim later filed a general diary with the Adabar police station in this regard.
Sharif, a Dhanmondi resident, also faced similar threats from a “Jinn-er Badshah” recently. He received a phone call from the number 01956713810, with the person at the other end claiming to be the king of supernatural beings and demanding Tk5,000.
“The caller instructed me to pay the money to the Sylhet Shahjalal Majar; but as I did not pay the money two days after the initial phone call, he called again and threatened me. However, I avoided the matter,” said Sharif, adding that the phone number had been switched off from July 13.
Intelligence officials of Rapid Action Battalion said such crimes originated from Gobindaganj village of Gaibandha where the village residents did nothing but run such scams. The ringleader of the village and gang was Azmal, who started his scam business about 10 to 15 years ago, they added.
In May, Azmal was arrested by RAB 13; while during his interrogation, Azmal reportedly provided details on how the scams were run.
“After the mobile phone network covered the entire country, Azmal started phoning people in the middle of the night claiming to be Jinn-er Badshah and demanding money through mobile banking,” Washim Feroz, operation officer of RAB 13, told the Dhaka Tribune.
When contacted, AB Jahidul Islam, officer-in-charge of Gobindaganj police station in Gaibandha, said there was over 300-400 criminals who were involved in such criminal activities. Although police raids often managed to arrest a number of criminals, they soon returned to their business after securing bail, he said.
The OC added that it was easy for gang members to get bail as the plaintiffs – in most cases – were from out of town and did not stay in the area to follow up with case proceedings.
Asked about the issue, director of RAB’s Intelligence Wing, Abul Kalam Azad, told the Dhaka Tribune that the criminal gang, who were based in Gaibandha’s Gobindaganj, duped people by promising them different valuables.
“We have often conducted drives to arrest the gang members, but most of the time it is not possible to recover the money as the criminals have already spent it,” he said, adding that better awareness would put a stop to such crimes.
