The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Police has arrested 12 Nigerian citizens along with a fake woman customs official for alleged involvement in embezzlement of money through social media.
CID recovered five laptops, 14 mobile phones, and a huge number of mobile SIM cards at the time of the arrest at Pallabi of Mirpur on Tuesday.
CID Additional Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider confirmed the matter during a press briefing at the CID headquarters on Wednesday.
The arrestees are -- Nandika Clenent Chakengu, 32, Cletus Achuna, 31, Onyekulve Timety Chinongce, 30, Ekene Wisdom, 30, Chigozie , 30, Evunde Gabril Obinna, 30, Celestine Patrick Obiajulu, 30, Mordi Nnamdi Collins, 30, Ordu Chukwudi Sammy, 30, Ndubuokwn Somayina, 30, Nzerem Precious Ekeme, 30, Nwoke Wisdom Chikwado, 30, and fake customs official Rahat Ara Khanam alias Farjana Uddin.
During the primary interrogation, CID found out that the accused swindled Tk5 crore to Tk6 crore from more than 100 victims across the country in the last two months.
The additional DIG said after receiving a complaint from a victim, the CID started investigating the matter during which it was found that members of the ring befriended people of the opposite sex on Facebook, usually under the disguise of being rich.
After becoming friends on Facebook, the victim was offered expensive gifts from a fake messenger ID “Katherine Cullen Sophia.” Later the victim was given an airline booking document with a list of expensive gift items through Facebook messenger, he added.
The victim was told that the gift boxes contained millions of dollars worth of goods and was asked to receive the goods from Chittagong Airport Customs, the CID official said.
Farjana, in disguise of a customs commissioner, had pressured the victim to accept the so-called gifts against a deposit of Tk4,25,000 in several bank accounts.
She also scared the victim by saying that complications would arise if the victim did not receive the gifts, Rezaul said.
The victim was forced to deposit Tk3,73,000 in various bank accounts provided by Farjana.
