Fraudster held over online scam using fake Daraz website

The Cyber-crime Investigation Division of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) has arrested a gang leader for his alleged involvement in online fraudulence using a fake Daraz website.

The team arrested the accused Al Imran Jewel, 20, from Noakhali on Tuesday night.

Jewel has reportedly embezzled Tk10 lakhs defrauding customers, said Chatak Chakma, assistant commissioner of the cyber-crime division told The Business Standard.

Police also seized all items linked to the crime, a mobile phone, a desktop, and several electronic cards from financial institutions, and pre-activated SIM cards of several mobile operators, from his possession.

Taking advantage of customer's reliance on online shopping due to Covid-19 pandemic, the alleged fraudster created a website called "daraz.cl" and ran a Facebook page named "DarazBangladesh" where he reportedly defrauded local customers for quite some time, said the police official.

Daraz officials reported the fake sites to the cyber-crime unit.

The accused, Jewel, has been charged for spear-heading the entire operation to lure customers into believing this is a real Daraz operated website. They put up ads and posts which looked authentic, provided address and phone number on their website, and provided a nagad number to extract payments.

A case was filed against the accused with Banani Police Station on Tuesday.

Police have produced Jewel before a Dhaka court today seeking a seven-day remand, according to sources.

Drive is also underway to arrest other gang members, said the official.