Blackmailing of men by luring them into ‘friendship’ with women on mobile phone with extraordinary ease has gone up in Chittagong.
People responding to calls for help from women in public places are also being duped by these gangs.
Police say they have information about some of those groups doing the shadowy business in the port city.
The number of such incidents has increased of late.
Detective Branch Deputy Commissioner SM Tanvir Arafat said the gangs used mobile banking to collect the ransom.
“Their demand usually ranges from Tk 20,000 to Tk 100,000. Many pay the sum without informing police,” he said.
“Those who do not have the ability to pay come to the police,” he added.
Describing the modus operandi, police officials said the victims usually get missed calls from the gangs. When they called back, a woman would say, “Sorry. Wrong number.”
The woman then calls back and develops intimacy. At one stage, she offers to meet the victim and then takes him hostage during the date.
Some female members of these gangs seek help from people in public places posing as victims.
When anyone responds to their call, the other members of the gang catch him.
The police officials said then the gangs take nude photos of the victims and threaten to publish them.
These gangs target those between 25 and 30, according to the police.
Detective officer Arafat said they had got information about six such swindling rackets in the last 15 days.
On June 30, police rescued a shipyard businessman from Biazid Bostami area, who had fallen prey to one such racket. Two men – ‘Elal’ and ‘Ripon’ – were arrested over the incident.
Last week, another gang abducted a businessman from Maheshkhali in a similar way. They sent the victim’s family seven bKash numbers to send the money.
Arafat said they traced the numbers to Sylhet’s Kulaurha.
“We believe members of these rackets are active in other parts of the country,” he said.
Khulshi police arrested three people, including two young women, from Shantibagh on May 15 while taking ransom.
They had confined a man and were taking his nude pictures.
Those arrested told police that about 10 such rackets were active in the port city, detective police’s Sub-Inspector Santosh Kumar said.
“Although the male members of these gangs are arrested at times, the female members are elusive,” he said.
Police say these rackets were active at the city’s Halishahar, Baizid, Akbar Shah, Paharhtali, Chandgaon, and Karnaphuli areas.
A police officer privy to the incidents told bdnews24.com the women swindlers were former DJ girls.
“Former DJ girls, who were seen at parties at various hotels, are mainly involved in the rackets,” the officer, refusing to be named, told bdnews24.com.
But police have recently clamped down on DJ parties held in various city hotels.
Police officers, involved in the investigations, say they suspect the women got involved in this swindling business after they became jobless.
Source: Bd news24
