Case filed against bKash over customer’s fraud loss
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Mohammad Karim Molla is an employee of the private Asiatic Cotton Mills in Chattogram. On 24 October, his mobile phone went missing while he was returning home from his workplace.
After replacing the SIM and activating it on a new phone, he discovered that the PIN of his bKash account had been changed. Then more than Tk 90,000 was embezzled from that account.
Over this incident, Karim filed a complaint seeking a case in the Cyber Tribunal of Chattogram against nine individuals, including Kamal Quadir, chief executive officer (CEO) of the mobile financial service bKash.
Karim’s lawyer Mohammad Ansar Ullah said the judge accepted the case application and ordered the Counter Terrorism Unit of Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) to investigate the allegation.
The case petition added that he filed a General Diary (GD) at Patenga Police Station on 25 October regarding the missing mobile phone. On 26 October, he purchased a new phone and activated the SIM with the same number.
However, he could no longer log in to his bKash account using his old PIN. Upon calling the bKash helpline (16247), he learned that an unidentified individual had obtained a temporary PIN from customer care by using his National Identity Card (NID) information.
Through this, that individual took control of his account and transferred Tk 90,015 to various numbers.
Karim alleged that the bKash authority supplied a temporary PIN number to fraudsters without proper verification. As a result, he believes that this created the opportunity for fraud and money embezzlement.
For this reason, he filed a case under Sections 22(2), 24(2), 27, and 29 of the Cyber Security Act on charges of digital fraud and money embezzlement.
Among the nine accused in the case, only bKash CEO Kamal Quadir is named. The mobile numbers and transaction IDs of the remaining eight individuals are specified. Lawyer Ansar said the embezzled money was transferred to these numbers.
