Hundreds of foreign frauds, especially from China and Taiwan, are staying in Bangladesh, using it as a “safe home” from where to deceive their own people through advanced technology, says the Rapid Action Battalion.
RAB arrested 37 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals on December22 and initially suspected that they had been operating illegal call termination under the cover of running a garment business.
But that notion changed when officials of RAB and Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) learnt in details from Taiwanese intelligence officials that these foreigners had trapped users of credit cards and account-holders of banks there through phishing. They would often identify themselves as call centre employees,RAB says.
“They [the frauds] play with the Taiwanese people’s psychology, calling them in the guise of call centre employees of banks,and ultimately blackmail them,” Lt Col Kismat Hayat, commanding officer of RAB 1, told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday over phone.
“Taiwanese intelligence detected similar incidents happening in Vietnam,” he said.
Officials of RAB, BTRC and Taiwan intelligence went to visit the house at Uttara sector12 on Saturday and found well decorated soundproof rooms and a lot of high-tech equipment.
A source said the arrested foreigners had come to Bangladesh on tourist visas one and a half years ago;they went back to their countries and returned again on extended visas.
RAB arrested five Chinese, 32 Taiwanese and three Bangladeshi nationals during its raid and seized a large quantity of illegal VoIP equipment from the house. The law enforcers also seized 14 Taiwanese passports but the owners were not there.
“When we arrested them we thought it was the biggest ever haul of VoIP equipment in the country, but it was not. I am sure more groups are available in Bangladesh,” Kismat Hayat said.
He said the group could not cause any harm to Bangladesh nationals as they cannot speak English well.
He said the Taiwanese team would reveal its findings to the media before leaving Bangladesh within a day or two.
Police initially filed a case against the arrestees under the telecom act, which is bailable, but now they want to shift it to a non-bailable section of any other act.
The court already put the arrestees on remand.
Taiwanese authorities sent two of its high officials to deal with the legal matters following the arrest of its 32 nationals but China has not sent anyone yet.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
