BM Desk : Serious allegations have surfaced regarding fraudulent activities involving the savings certificate server. It has been reported that money from other customers’ accounts was withdrawn by exploiting access to the server. Upon detecting the irregularities, Bangladesh Bank took immediate measures to prevent further fraud and filed a General Diary (GD) at the Motijheel Police Station.
On Wednesday (October 29), Motijheel Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Mejbah Uddin told the media,
“No formal case has been filed yet, but a GD was lodged two days ago. We are investigating the matter with utmost seriousness.”
According to sources, last Thursday, a man purchased savings certificates worth Tk 25 lakh from Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office. The buyer has a bank account at Agrani Bank’s National Press Club Branch. However, just four days later, on Monday, the certificates were encashed, and the money was transferred to an account belonging to a person at NRBC Bank’s Dinajpur sub-branch, from where it was later withdrawn through the NRBC Bank Shyamoli Branch in Dhaka.
Using the same method on the same day, attempts were also made to encash savings certificates worth Tk 30 lakh through Dutch-Bangla Bank and Tk 20 lakh through NRB Bank. However, these transactions were blocked after being detected by Bangladesh Bank.
According to official data, as of August this year, the total amount invested by customers in savings certificates stands at Tk 3,40,071 crore. Savings certificates can be bought or encashed through about 12,000 branches across Bangladesh Bank, state-owned and private commercial banks, the Department of National Savings, and post offices.
So far, the fraud has only been identified in connection with savings certificates handled by Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office. It is not yet known whether similar incidents have occurred elsewhere.
Transactions involving savings certificates are controlled through the Finance Ministry’s central server. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether the identified frauds were carried out by hacking that server.
