Students’ personal info compromised, guardians deceived

Identifying himself as a college teacher, a man called the guardian of a student of Bakalia Government College in Chattogram over the phone and informed him that his son received Tk 15,000 as a stipend from the government.

He tactfully collected the guardian’s debit card number and later the OTP (One-Time Password) number received on his mobile phone. Everything was going fine until the guardian noticed an unwarranted transaction of Tk 30,000 from his account to a mobile financial service (MFS) number.

The incident took place around 11:15 am on 9 February when the guardian was at his residence in the port city’s Anderkilla area.

Sharing his ordeal, the guardian told Prothom Alo, “The fraudster accurately cited both my name and my daughter's name. He also mentioned my daughter's class. I could not sense him as a fraud as he identified himself as a teacher.”

In the same fashion, at least 200 students of eleventh grade and their guardians received phone calls from the fraudsters, following applications for a government stipend. Citing the students' personal details, the fraudster callers, posing as board officials, college teachers, or principal’s office staff, requested the guardians to send money as part of the process to avail the stipend.

Since they correctly mentioned all information of the students, some four students and their parents have already fallen prey to the scam and lost Tk 103,000 in total. A guardian has lodged a general diary regarding the incident.

However, the deception gave rise to a question – how did the students’ personal details make their way to the fraudsters? They cited the students’ details accurately to deceive the guardians, leaving little scope to suspect them.

According to teachers, the students have to fill up a particular form with detailed personal information to avail stipends from the prime minister's education assistance trust. The college authorities initially collect the filled forms and store them later on a website. Besides, the education boards have detailed information about students.

As the news of frauds spread around, the college authorities issued an urgent notification, warning students and guardians against sharing sensitive information over the phone.

The notice said a fraud ring has been asking students and their guardians to share bank account numbers, ATM card numbers, OTPs, PIN numbers, and cash, under the pretext of providing stipends. They have been using the names of college teachers and staff to harass and harm the students.

There are 1,425 students in the class-11 in the college. The stipend application began on 30 October and continued until 9 November. A total of 400 students submitted applications with their personal details, while at least 200 received phone calls from the fraudsters.

The issue has already been reported to the education board and the secondary and higher education division.

Jashim Uddin, principal of the Bakalia Government College, said the information provided in the application forms has been compromised somehow. The students received phone calls after the application, and the fraudsters cited the information mentioned in the application forms.

Zahidul Kabir, officer-in-charge of Chandgaon police station, said a guardian lodged a general diary with the police station, and they are looking into the matter.

Smriti Karmakar, managing director of the prime minister’s education assistance trust, said they receive students’ details through a software and there is no scope for the information to be compromised from their end.

As the college and education board authorities also preserve the students’ information, there should be an investigation to find out the loophole, said Asadul Haque, scheme director of the trust’s coordinated stipend programme.

He also clarified that the stipend requires no transaction at any stage and asked the students to remain cautious in this regard.

Recently, a tech-based online news portal reported a massive data leak from the database of the country’s birth and death registration office. Later, the students’ confidential information was reportedly leaked from an education board.

In a recently uncovered incident, fraudsters tricked out a significant amount of loans from Sonali Bank in Rangamati, using identities of 506 day labourers between 2012 and 2014. There are some more instances that deserve serious attention to the issue of data leak.

Experts said the fraudsters may withdraw cash from the bank accounts, credit cards, and MFS accounts using the leaked personal details. They may even secure loans from the banks through identity theft.

Abu Hasnat Mohammad Ashfaq Habib, chief of the computer science and engineering department at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), described the compromise of students’ personal information as alarming as the fraudsters may commit various unethical activities using these details.

He demanded that the authorities carry out a thorough investigation into the incidents and bring the responsible ones to book.