Jahangirnagar University students targeted by data-harvesting fraud rings
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A sophisticated criminal syndicate is targeting students and their families at Jahangirnagar University through a wave of coordinated extortion and financial fraud. Over the past six months, at least 66 students have reported being subjected to elaborate scams, according to discussions within university social media groups. As reported by the Bangladeshi newspaper Prothom Alo, perpetrators are utilizing precise personal data—ranging from departmental affiliations to contact details—to deceive parents into believing their children have been detained by law enforcement or that student stipend payments are being processed.
The modus operandi frequently involves high-pressure tactics. In one instance, a student’s father was contacted by a caller claiming to be a Detective Branch (DB) officer, who demanded immediate payment to secure the release of his son, a postgraduate chemistry student, allegedly arrested for drug possession. Similar accounts describe callers posing as university faculty members who claim that stipend funds are blocked, subsequently tricking parents into revealing sensitive banking credentials and one-time passwords (OTP). These scams have resulted in significant financial losses for multiple families, with some victims reporting the theft of tens of thousands of taka.
বিজ্ঞাপন
Students have expressed deep concern over the level of detail possessed by the scammers, noting that the information cited—including names, academic years, and specific registration details—often matches the data provided to the university during the admission process. This has led to widespread suspicion among the student body that internal databases may have been compromised or that information is being leaked from the university’s administrative offices.
University officials have denied allegations of institutional data breaches. Lutfur Rahman, Deputy Registrar of the Higher Education and Scholarship branch, insisted that scholarship recipient lists published on the university website do not include personal contact information and suggested that the criminals are likely targeting students at random.
বিজ্ঞাপন
In response to the growing crisis, Jahangirnagar University Vice-Chancellor Professor Mohammad Kamrul Ahsan has instructed the registrar’s office to issue formal awareness notices. The university has also pledged to assist students in pursuing legal action by collecting the numbers used by the fraudsters to facilitate police investigation. Despite these efforts, victims continue to highlight the urgent need for enhanced data security, as the sophistication of the callers suggests an intimate knowledge of student records that has yet to be fully accounted for by campus authorities.
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