Defrauding People Going Abroad: Four fraudsters held
They used to target people travelling abroad and make promise of expediting their Covid-19 vaccination process. By doing so, they have deceived a good number of people.
The Rapid Action Battalion arrested four members of such a fraud gang from the capital's Mugda area on Wednesday.
"The main target of this gang was people travelling abroad. The gang was active in Mugda, Shahbagh, Ramna, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Mirpur, Mohakhali and other areas of the capital. They have so far deceived more than 200 people," said Commander Khandaker Al Moin, director of Rab's legal and media wing, at a press briefing yesterday.
The arrestees are: Nurul Huq, 47, Saiful Islam, 30, Imran Hossain, 23 and Dulal Mia, 37. They used to tell people that they will receive text messages for vaccination soon in exchange for Tk 2,500-5,000 each, Rab said.
The gang also tried to trap people through the social media and text messages. In the text, they said people, who had their registration done earlier, will get texts in a day, and those who are new will get it within four days. They also assured them of giving vaccine doses to the applicants' districts.
"Some got the SMS normally or some were cheated," the Rab official said, adding that the gang has been involved in the scam since June.
According to Rab, Nurul is the gang leader. Arrestees -- Saiful and Imran -- waited in front of hospitals and they tempted people to give them money to get texts for vaccination fast.
Nurul used to bargain with the victims. If there was any problem over fixing the amount, they would be taken to Dulal. Depending on the amount, Dulal would tell victims when they would get texts for vaccination.
Rab said Nurul was an expatriate for long, but could not go abroad after he returned home in 2018 due to visa issues.
Imran was working at a travel agency. Saiful is a tea-seller in Ramna area. He was a cleaner at a government organisation. From there, he was fired on allegation of taking bribe. Dulal was a driver at a hospital, according to Rab.
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