The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) has frozen three bank accounts linked to a substantial fraud involving National Savings Certificates (NSC), reports BSS.
Officials confirmed today that the BB has launched a probe into the scam.
A fraud ring managed to embezzle Tk 2.5 million by exploiting the NSC system, with certificates purchased from Bangladesh Bank's Motijheel office in the city.
Authorities were successful in blocking a subsequent attempt by the same group to withdraw an additional Tk 5.0 million.
Initial investigation strongly suggests that the fraud occurred through an internal system breach, specifically by exploiting the passwords of officials responsible for operating the NSC system.
Bangladesh Bank Assistant Spokesperson Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui noted that it appears preliminarily that the fraud happened through the use of personnel passwords.
Further investigation confirmed that the legitimate certificate holders had not applied for encashment and had not received necessary One-Time Passwords (OTPs), reinforcing the indication of an internal system breach.
The initial Tk 2.5 million theft occurred after an individual purchased an NSC last Thursday and redeemed it prematurely just four days later.
The stolen funds were transferred to an NRBC Bank account in Dinajpur and subsequently withdrawn in cash from the Shyamoli branch in Dhaka.
The syndicate also tried to encash two more NSCs worth Tk 3.0 million through Dutch-Bangla Bank and Tk 2.0 million through NRB Bank, but these attempts were detected and successfully blocked by Bangladesh Bank.
In immediate response to the fraud, three officials at the Motijheel office who had access to the passwords have been removed from duty and are under surveillance.
BB freezes 3 bank accounts over savings certificates fraud
A fraud ring managed to embezzle Tk 2.5m by exploiting the NSC system
FE Team | Published: October 31, 2025 00:14:05
BB freezes 3 bank accounts over savings certificates fraud
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