Man held for cyber fraud

A printing press worker in Gaibandha, who did not even complete primary education, Anwar Hossain, 30, has been impersonating president, ministers, police officials, UP chairmen, actors, among others, in Facebook to chat with women and extort them.

For the past five years, he engaged in inappropriate conversations and shared pictures with numerous women, and resorted to extortion in some cases, according to police.

One of his fake Facebook profiles is using the name MD Mohshin, in which he used photos and videos resembling the genuine profile of Mohammad Mohsin, officer-in-charge of Tejgaon Police Station, who himself has been vocal against fraudulence on social media.

OC Mohsin lodged a general diary with Mirpur Police Station on September 5 last year, before eventually filing a case under the Cyber Security Act on January 22 this year.

Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested Anwar on charges of cyber fraud from Islam Printing Press in Gaibandha on Friday, said DMP joint commissioner (Crime) Liton Kumar Saha at a press briefing at DMP Media Centre yesterday.

During the arrest, police seized a computer, IP camera, router, and a mobile phone from Anwar's possession.

Anwar chatted with 771 women through the fake ID of Tejgaon OC on Messenger and Whatsapp at different times, said OC Mohsin.

Anwar had also opened Facebook profiles impersonating the president, a UP chairman, State Minister Nasrul Hamid, actor Shanto Khan, actor and model Abdun Noor Sajal, BNP acting chairperson Tarique Rahman, among others.

While some of those IDs were found to be currently disabled, the others are active, from which Anwar shared different posts and pictures and chatted with different people on messenger.

One of the fake Facebook profile is in the name of Selim Khan, chairman of Laxmipur union parishad under Chandpur Sadar upazila. Using this ID, Anwar claimed himself to be a film producer and talked to different girls on messenger, asking them to send pictures if they wanted to become actress, said OC Mohsin.

Having learnt to solve various Facebook related issues from YouTube, Anwar became known as "Facebook master" in Kholabari village and Das Bakery intersection in Gaibandha while being a printing machine helper at Islam Printing Press, the OC also said.

He provided assistance to people facing Facebook-related issues, including ID and password recovery.