Fraudsters Exploit Savings Certificate Server to Embezzle Customer’s Funds

Staff Correspondent

A sensational case of fraudulently stealing customer money using savings account servers has been detected.

It has been alleged that a fraudster gang accessed the server, broke the savings certificates in the name of another customer, and withdrew money. Bangladesh Bank has taken immediate action in this incident and has strengthened additional security to prevent fraud.

Bangladesh Bank has filed a general diary (GD) in this regard at the capital’s Motijheel Police Station.

Police station officer-in-charge (OC) Mejbah Uddin said, “No case has been filed yet, but a GD has been filed. We are investigating the matter seriously.”

Sources said that on October 23, a customer purchased a savings certificate worth Tk 2.5 million from Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office. The customer’s bank account was in Agrani Bank’s Jatiya Press Club branch. But just four days later, on Monday, the savings certificate was broken and the money was transferred to an unidentified person in NRBC Bank’s Dinajpur sub-branch. Later, the money was withdrawn from the bank’s Shyamoli branch on the same day.

Two more savings certificates were attempted to be redeemed on the same day using the same tactic—one for Tk 3 million through Dutch-Bangla Bank, the other for Tk 2 million through NRB Bank. However, these two frauds were prevented by the surveillance of Bangladesh Bank.

According to the data, the amount of investment in savings certificates till August this year has stood at Tk 3,40,710 crore. Currently, these savings certificates are sold and redeemed from about 12,000 branches of Bangladesh Bank, public and private commercial banks, the Department of Savings and Post Offices.

So far, only the Motijheel office of Bangladesh Bank has detected such fraud. The investigation team is verifying whether the same fraud has occurred in any other branch or institution.

The savings account server is operated under the Ministry of Finance. Whether the fraud incidents were committed through server hacks is now under investigation.