Police Arrest Two in Fraud Ring Targeting Overseas Job Seekers with Fake Visas
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Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) have dismantled a sophisticated human trafficking and fraud syndicate that deceived dozens of job seekers with promises of high-paying employment and permanent residency in Australia and Canada. Two key members of the operation, identified as 21-year-old Mariful Islam and 28-year-old Bachcha Bau, were apprehended in the Kishoreganj sub-district of Nilphamari this past Tuesday.
According to Niaz Mehedi, Additional Deputy Commissioner of the DMP’s Media and Public Relations division, the syndicate has successfully swindled more than 72 individuals using elaborate digital deception. The arrests followed a formal complaint filed at Pallabi Police Station by a victim named Md. Sayedul Haque, who reported losing approximately 480,000 taka after paying for bogus medical, visa processing, and document verification fees via mobile banking services.
The investigation, led by the Cyber and Special Crime (North) division of the Detective Branch, revealed that the group utilized highly convincing tactics to entrap their victims. To maintain a facade of legitimacy, the suspects operated a fraudulent website modeled after official Australian government portals. When victims entered their passport numbers into the site, it would generate a falsified notification confirming the approval of their visas. The syndicate further bolstered their scheme by issuing fake work permits, visa approval letters, and counterfeit Labour Market Impact Assessment documents.
Upon their arrest, authorities seized a significant cache of incriminating evidence, including a laptop, seven mobile phones, thirteen SIM cards, and nine forged Bangladeshi passports. Preliminary forensic analysis of these devices uncovered extensive records of victim communications, mobile banking transaction logs, and a collection of fraudulent immigration documents.
Police investigations indicate that the suspects utilized social media advertisements to lure candidates with attractive foreign job offers before systematically extracting funds under the guise of processing costs. While the two primary suspects remain in custody, detectives are continuing operations to locate and apprehend other members of the syndicate, who have reportedly been targeting aspiring migrants across various districts for an extended period.
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