Fraud in the name of foreign investment on Telegram: CID arrests 2 more people in the ring

Fraud in the name of foreign investment on Telegram: CID arrests 2 more people in the ring

Md. Babul Bangladesh Correspondent

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested two more people in the case of defrauding the common people by operating a fake investment group in the name of a foreign organization on Telegram and embezzling huge amounts of money.

In continuation of the investigation of Paltan Police Station Case No. 10, Date-04/09/2025 AD, Section-420/406/109/34 Penal Code, an operational team of the CID’s Dhaka Metro East Division on 26/01/2026 AD. At approximately 20.30 pm, accused Ranjit Basak Rawnak (25), father-Bhajon Basak and 27/01/2026 AD. At around 02.00 am, the accused Palash Chandra Basak (40), father-Ravi Das Basak, mother-Lilah Rani Basak were arrested from Suihari area under Dinajpur Sadar Police Station. Permanent address of both the arrested accused: Both Sang-152 Ranishainkal, Police Station- Ranishainkal, District-Thakurgaon.

It is to be noted that the main accused, Fardin Ahmed alias Pratik (25) and his associate Md. Sagar Ahmed (24), who were arrested before the case, voluntarily revealed the names of the two accused while giving a confessional statement under Section 164 of the IPC in the learned court. Ranjit and Palash were arrested on the basis of the information provided by them.

Initial investigation revealed that the fraudster gang had been opening fake groups on the Telegram app under the names of ‘Foreign Investment Platform’ and other attractive names for a long time and tempting the common people to invest by showing the lure of high profits in a short time. When the victims joined the group, they would post fake and fabricated posts about how some of the members who were already involved in the group had made huge profits in a short period of time by investing. In fact, these members were active collaborators of the gang and the posts were completely false and misleading.

Through this, the general public was lured into sending money to various bank and mobile financial service (MFS) accounts as per the group’s instructions. These accounts were mostly opened in the names of third parties, many of whom were unaware of the real purpose. Later, the fraudsters used these accounts to illegally transact and embezzle money. Many investors lost everything in this way. The investigation also revealed that the gang used innovative strategies to convert the money collected through fraud into cash. The mastermind, Fardin Ahmed, would purchase cars from various car showrooms through bank transactions, sell them at low prices in a short period of time, and withdraw the cash by showing a loss on paper. This is how the illegal money was ‘cashed out’.

Initial interrogation revealed that the accused Ranjit Basak Rawnak was a member of the illegal Telegram group and was involved in financial transaction activities under the direction of the group’s chief director. On the other hand, the accused Palash Chandra Basak worked as the manager of the Telegram group’s mastermind ‘Mission’. He worked on a commission basis, with a minimum daily remuneration of Tk 1,500. If the amount of transactions and investments through the group was high, he would receive additional commission, which sometimes ranged from Tk 20,000 to Tk 25,000 daily. He used multiple SIM cards registered in his own name for the said criminal activities and was responsible for supervising all the illegal activities of the mastermind.

Both the arrested accused have been handed over to the learned court under necessary police guard and a request has been made to bring them in police custody for 10 (ten) days for questioning.

Currently, the investigation of the case is ongoing by the Dhaka Metro East Division of the CID and the operation to arrest other members of the fraud ring is ongoing.