A gang has fraudulently withdrawn 2.5 million taka from the National Savings Department’s NSC system. The gang redeemed other people’s savings certificates before they expired and transferred the money to their own bank account. Then, when they tried to withdraw another 5 million taka, Bangladesh Bank blocked it.

The central bank officials said that the savings certificate was forged using the password of Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office. Bangladesh Bank filed a general diary (GD) with Motijheel police station on Tuesday in this incident. Preparations for the case are now underway.

Bangladesh Bank Assistant Spokesperson Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui told reporters on Wednesday that cases will be filed against those whose accounts received the money and those involved in the fraud. It is initially believed that the fraud was committed using the password of someone who manages the savings account system. Bangladesh Bank is preparing to file a case with Motijheel Police Station in this regard.

A senior Bangladesh Bank official said that a person bought a savings certificate of Tk 2.5 million from Bangladesh Bank’s Motijheel office last Thursday. His bank account is in Agrani Bank’s Jatiya Press Club branch. Four days later, the savings certificate was redeemed last Monday and the money was taken to another person’s account at NRBC Bank’s Dinajpur sub-branch. The money was withdrawn from the bank’s Shyamoli branch in the capital within some time after the deposit.

In the same process, an attempt was made to withdraw money by redeeming savings certificates worth Tk 3 million through Dutch-Bangla Bank and Tk 2 million through NRB Bank on the same day. However, when it came to the attention of Bangladesh Bank, it was blocked.

Bangladesh Bank has spoken to savings bond buyers in three cases. The customers said they did not apply for redemption of savings bonds. As a result, no one-time password (OTP) was sent to their mobile phones. After that, the three Bangladesh Bank officials who had the passwords for selling savings bonds were removed from their duties and three others were given the responsibility.

The officials concerned at the central bank said that this fraud was committed using passwords. As a result, those who had the passwords are under surveillance. In addition, it is being investigated whether anyone else is involved.

According to the National Savings Department, as of last August, customers had savings certificates worth Tk 340,071 crore in banks and other authorized institutions. These savings certificates are purchased and redeemed from about 12,000 branches of Bangladesh Bank, all public and private commercial banks, the Savings Department, and post offices.