Two members of a gang arrested for cheating people of crores of taka using fake job promises

PNN News Desk. Narsingdi

A gang’s ringleader and his associate have been arrested by RAB-10 on charges of fraudulently collecting large sums of money by using fake identities of senior government and military officials to promise jobs.

In a press conference held Monday morning at RAB-10 headquarters in Keraniganj, Commander Mohammad Kamruzzaman provided the information. Army officer Molla Obaidur Rahman was also present.

RAB said that on Sunday, separate operations were conducted in Narsingdi Sadar and Dhaka’s Sayedabad areas, leading to the arrest of the gang leader Md. Tarek Sarkar and his associate Md. Palash Kabir.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Tarek Sarkar was dismissed from the Bangladesh Army in 2006 for disciplinary violations. Later, he obtained a job in the Prison Department by hiding information. He again lost his job in 2020. After that, he built a fraud network using his experience in government institutions.

According to RAB, he used special mobile SIM cards to operate WhatsApp accounts impersonating high-ranking government and military officials. Through these accounts, he lured job seekers and collected large sums of money.

He also used photos of officials, edited with Photoshop, to create fake images of himself with influential people to gain trust.

During interrogation, he admitted that he had collected between one and one and a half crore taka over the past three years through job-related fraud.

Electronic devices, fake documents, and other evidence were seized from his house during the raid.

RAB-10 senior assistant superintendent of police Taposh Karmakar said the operation was launched based on multiple complaints and evidence. Legal proceedings are underway against the arrested individuals.