Hasan and Shameema, siblings from Char Maghardia village of Paba upazila under Rajshahi district, study at the Char Nabinagar Primary School.
Hasan, a fifth grader, and Shameema, a third grader, are entitled for Tk 300 monthly stipend.
Through a mobile financial system (MFS), the stipend had been sent to their mother Adora Begum’s mobile phone.
In the first week of March, Adora received an unknown call. The caller introduced himself as a Nagad (MFS provider) officer and tricked her into giving him the secret PIN (personal identification number) of her Nagad account.
After a while, the stipend for Hasan and Shameema vanished from the account as a digital fraudulent gang withdrew the money.
Over phone, Adora Beguam told Prothom Alo, “We are poor. With the stipend of my kids, I used to buy their school accessories.”
Adora Begum and her kids are not the only victims of such fraudulence. A racket of digital frauds has embezzled stipends of more than 200 primary students in at least nine districts.
Given the cases of such embezzlement, the ministry of primary and mass education were alerted. The ministry hosted a joint meeting on 25 March to chalk out a solution.
Minutes of the meeting contains an assessment that the gangs of fraud collect secret PIN code from the parents in disguise of Nagad officers. Then they embezzle money from the wallet, depriving the primary students of their stipend.
On 2 April, Nagad filed a case with Banani police station, against some unidentified persons allegedly for embezzlement of students’ stipend. However, none has been arrested in the case so far.
Plaintiff of the case and Nagad officer Towhidul Islam Chowdhury told Prothom Alo that the primary and mass education ministry informed Nagad about the incidences. Nagad’s investigation also found some proof. “Already, 143 suspicious Nagad accounts have been identified,” he said.
The Gulshan police initiated investigation over the case but failed to trace the culprits. Later, cyber and special crime unit under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) was assigned to dig into the case. The unit has not yet arrested anyone.
Deputy commissioner at cyber and special crime unit, Muhammad Shariful Islam told Prothom Alo that frauds embezzling students’ stipend will be brought to book.
SM Tariqul Islam, assistant secretary at the primary and mass education ministry, told Prothom Alo that the ministry has already noted the cases of stipend embezzlement. A case has been filed to arrest the criminals.