Arrests reveal bKash accounts hacking
Security system strengthened, service operator says
FE REPORT | Thursday, 1 October 2020
bKash hackers buy per page of cash-in register at Tk 300 from their agents to trap victims, detectives said after arresting nine members of a gang.
The plainclothes unit of the police force said the primary hacking agents tactfully take pictures of the cash-in pages from bKash cash-in or cash-out outlets before marketing those to their masterminds living in various locations.
Describing the procedures of the cyber fraudulence at a press briefing, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police AKM Hafiz Akhter said the digital fraud is being done in four stages.
In the first stage of cheating, some people tactfully take pictures of cash-in registers from the bKash points and send those to the hackers via WhatsApp.
"The primary agents take money between Tk 200 and Tk 300 for each page of the register from the hackers. With that, the fraudulent process starts," he said.
The list of the victims is then sent to the second stage operators who call their prey in the guise of bKash agents, saying that money is wrongly sent to their numbers.
They also tell the victims they complained about the matter to block the numbers and bKash authority will call them regarding the wrong transactions soon, he said.
In a span short time, the third-layer players identifying themselves bKash call centre workers called their selected targets from cloned numbers (+016247) and seek OTP (one time password) numbers that they sent just before the call.
And many people share the OPT and PIN number with the fake call centre individuals after being cheated by their approaches, the DMP additional commissioner said.
Those who do not agree to share these important security numbers, the third-phase operators ask the victims to do a math and tactfully take OPT and PIN numbers from the targets in the process of mathematical study.
After that the hackers take full control of the bKash accounts and transacted the money soon to various bKash points to cash out the money.
The DB official said the hackers pay people in the last stage retransfer the cash out money to various personal bKash numbers that they bought from other bKash registered SIM holders by Tk 3,000-Tk 4,000.
"The fourth stage players take Tk 1,000 per Tk 10,000 transacted money as commission. And the hackers now use the iPhone in executing the digital looting," the DMP additional commissioner said, urging people not to share OPT and PIN numbers to anybody, even those who will seek those in disguise of bKash agents.
He also said many such groups are actively cheating people and they have intensified their monitoring against the racket.
The nine arrestees were identified as Md Rana Khan, Md Liton, Md Nayon Sheikh, Md Titu Mollah, Md Salman Mollah, Akash Sheikh, Md Moyazzem Hossain, Md Rahim and Md Tanjil.
When contacted, bKash spokesperson Shamsuddin Haider Dalim said they have attached utmost importance to the security of their clients' money.
As part of that effort, they have already stopped the option of using the bKash app in multiple devices so that their clients' accounts cannot be operated from other devices, he said.