A gang has fraudulently withdrawn Tk25 lakh from the Department of National Savings system using the password of Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office.
They exchanged other people’s savings certificates before their maturity and transferred the money to their own bank account.
The central bank has foiled another attempt to withdraw about Tk50 lakh.
The incident was detected in the case of savings certificates purchased from Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office. Bangladesh Bank filed a general diary (GD) with Motijheel police station on Tuesday (October 28) in this incident and the institution said that preparations are underway to file a case.
Bangladesh Bank’s assistant spokesperson Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui told reporters on Wednesday that those whose accounts received the money and those involved in the fraud have been identified. The case is under process.
“Initially, it is believed that the fraud was committed using the password of one of the savings certificate system operators.”
How it happened
According to the rules of the DNS, the capital and profit are transferred to the bank account that a customer gives when buying a savings certificate, at the end of the term.
In addition, to change or redeem the information, the customer has to apply to the relevant office, after which a one-time password (OTP) is sent to his mobile.
The process is completed only if the customer provides that OTP in person.
However, recently, many customers have been complaining that although they have their savings certificates or expatriate income money in different banks, it is not possible to withdraw it.
Central bank officials suspect that some are committing fraud by applying to change banks on this opportunity.
Last Thursday, a customer bought a savings certificate of Tk25 lakh from the Motijheel office of Bangladesh Bank.
His bank account was with the Jatiya Press Club branch of Agrani Bank.
Four days later, on Monday, the savings certificate was redeemed and the money was transferred to an unknown person at the Dinajpur sub-branch of NRBC Bank.
Later, the money was withdrawn from the bank’s Shyamoli branch of the capital.
In the same process, an attempt was made to redeem savings certificates worth Tk30 lakh through Dutch-Bangla Bank and Tk20 lakh through NRBC Bank on the same day.
However, subsequent transactions were stopped after Bangladesh Bank came to its attention.
After the incident, the central bank contacted three savings certificate buyers and confirmed that none of them had applied to redeem the savings certificates and had not received any OTP.
As a result, the officials of Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office who had the system password were removed from their duties and new officials were given the responsibility.
Bangladesh Bank officials said that this fraud was committed using passwords. Those who had the password are under surveillance. In addition, it is also being investigated whether anyone outside is involved.
Towhidul Alam Khan, the new managing director (MD) of NRBC Bank, said: “An investigation committee was formed under the leadership of the DMD immediately after learning about the incident. The committee has started work, a detailed report will be available soon.”
According to the National Savings Department, the total amount of savings certificates held by customers in banks and authorized institutions stood at Tk340,710 crore as of August this year.
These savings certificates are sold and redeemed at about 12,000 branches of Bangladesh Bank, public and private banks, the Savings Department and post offices.
Finance Ministry forms committee
The Finance Ministry has formed an investigation committee to uncover the facts of the incident of embezzlement through fraud in the National Savings Certificate (NSC) system of the Department of National Savings.
The committee, headed by Finance Division Additional Secretary (Administration, Planning and TDM) Md Hasanul Matin, also includes DNS Director General Rawshan Ara Begum, Finance Division Additional Secretary Dr. Ziaul Abedin, Joint Secretary Mohammad Rashedul Amin, an executive director of Bangladesh Bank, a Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the CID, and a Joint Secretary of the Internal Resources Division.
The committee has been asked to submit an investigation report within 10 working days.
The report has been directed to identify the real cause of the incident and those responsible and recommend punishment, as well as suggest measures to prevent such fraud in the future.
