DHAKA, Oct 9, 2025 (BSS) -The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has filed a case against 16 people, including seven to eight unidentified ones on charges of defrauding huge amount of money through online fraud and hundi operations alongside laundering Tk 34 crore earned through online gambling.

The case was filed with Narayanganj Sadar Police Station under Sections 4(2)/4 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act-2012 on Wednesday (October 8), said a CID press release. 

The nine accused whose names were mentioned in the case are Ariful Islam Rifat (23),  son of late Anwar Hossain, resident of Banshgari Kanda Para, under Bancharampur Police Station in Brahmanbaria district,  Md. Imran Hossain, (30), son of Md. Siddiqur Rahman, a resident of DM Khali, Shariatpur Sadar, Shariatpur, Md. Nure Alam (38), son of Md. Siddiqur Rahman,  a resident of 9/2 Shaheed Sabbir Alam Khandaker Road, Masdair, Fatulla, Narayanganj,  Md. Lily Akhter (55), wife of late Anwar Hossain, her daughters  Rimi Akhter (34) and Rumi Akhter (36), Abdul Qadir Jilani (39), Abdul Qadir Jilani (40), son of Md. Abdul Alim, a resident of Dogair West Para, Holding No.-09, Ward-66, Dogair, Sarulia, Demra, Dhaka,  Muha. Neyamatullah (30), son of  Salamatullah, a resident of Nayamti, Deolpara, Qutubpur, Thana- Narayanganj Sadar, Narayanganj and Md. Riyad (25), son of Mizanur Rahman, a resident of 57 Kellaband Choorapara, C.O. Bazar, Thana- Rangpur Sadar, Rangpur.

During the initial investigation, the CID revealed that the fraud ring first offered people to earn money through freelancing on ‘Telegram’, an online platform for freelancers. 

Later, if someone agreed, they would be added to a Telegram group where all the IDs except the targeted person were fake. 

If the victims agreed to freelancing work after seeing positive reviews of the fake ID in that group, they would first be given some simple work and would be paid Tk 8000-10000 for the first time. 

This was done to gain the victim's trust, as if everything was going well. Once trust was built, they would embezzle thousands of money by luring them to invest in big projects.

The ring was not only limited to online fraud. It targeted poor and illiterate people from remote areas of the country. 

They collected national identity cards by luring them of government allowances. Using these identity cards, fake bank and mobile financial service (bkash, Nagad) accounts were opened. 

Many times, people did not even know that the account had been opened in their name. These accounts were then used for Telegram fraud, online gambling and hundi transactions. The victim's deposited money was gradually transferred to the main members of the ring.

The ring also sent money from unscrupulous businessmen in the country abroad through hundi and cryptocurrency. 

The process of transferring money was very complicated. The ring used multiple fake and family member accounts to hide the real source through small transactions. 

In this way, no one outside could easily understand how much money was embezzled. Family members and associates would send money to each other's accounts one after another, making everything look very normal.

Finally, the gang used to launder the earned money abroad through digital hundis and cryptocurrencies. They would use various platforms to purchase dollars or crypto and transfer it to foreign addresses. 

In a word, the gang created trust, lured people with big projects, opened fake accounts and used crypto or hundis; all in all, they developed a well-organized system to embezzle people's money.

After receiving complaints from the victims of fraud, reviewing the information provided by the victims and the MFS/bank accounts used by them and finding the truth of the investigation against the gang, the CID sued the accused.

Among the accused in this case, the main masterminds were members of the same family. The main hero of the gang, Ariful Islam Rifat, his mother Lily Akhter, two sisters Rimi Akhter and Rumi Akhter, and the sister's husband Abdul Qadir Jilani were directly involved in the entire fraud.