Posing as a 'king of jinns' and as faith healers: two members of a fraud gang arrested in Faridpur
Posing at times as a 'king of jinns', at times as a faith healer, and at other times cloning the mobile number of an acquaintance to offer cheap rice — a gang accused of swindling ordinary people out of large sums of money through such tricks has seen two of its members arrested by the Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) in Faridpur.
The arrested men have given confessional statements in court under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the PBI said. The gang was identified after a long investigation aided by technology.
Faridpur PBI Superintendent of Police Md Rabiul Islam said rice trader Rashidul Islam of Binodpur in Rajbari Sadar upazila fell victim to the gang. On the morning of 25 March 2024, a gang member called him after cloning the mobile number of his acquaintance 'Bijoy Babu'.
Over the phone, the caller offered to sell 33 tonnes of rice at a low price. Because of the prior acquaintance and business relationship, Rashidul Islam did not suspect anything, the police superintendent said.
The gang then took a total of Tk 375,000 in instalments through bKash and Nagad to various numbers, citing an urgent need for money. When the rice did not arrive on time and Rashidul contacted the real 'Bijoy Babu', he became certain he had been cheated.
The superintendent said a case was first filed at the local police station. But as the mystery remained unsolved after eight months, the court, following the complainant's objection, ordered the PBI Faridpur to investigate.
Under the overall direction of the Faridpur PBI superintendent, and with SI (unarmed) Majidul Haque Khan leading the inquiry, the case was solved by analysing technology and financial transactions. After nearly a year of investigation, raids in Bhola and other areas led to the arrest of two gang members.
The investigation found that the gang had been cheating people through various tricks. They registered SIM cards under false identities for the fraud and discarded the SIMs after the money transactions.
Among their main tricks were frightening people late at night in a woman's voice while posing as a 'king of jinns', and luring victims with promises of curing secret diseases while posing as faith healers.
According to police, the gang has about five members. Some called victims to trap them, some supplied mobile financial service (MFS) numbers, and others collected the money by cashing out in different areas.
The superintendent added that the arrested men disclosed various details of the fraud in their court statements. He urged the public to inform the PBI quickly about such tempting offers, calls under false identities, or any fraud incident.
Further investigation is expected to reveal whether operations continue to arrest the remaining gang members and how many more people fell victim to the gang.
