How some Bogura villagers' Bitcoin venture ends in nightmare

When a man named Ruhul Amin approached the naive villagers of Pothatti, a little-known village in Bogura's Dupchanchia upazila, with a business offer, they almost could not believe it, at least not at first.

According to what Ruhul Amin promised them – the game is simple. All one has to do is invest around Tk90,000 in Bitcoin, a digital currency, through an app and that is it. In return, the investor will get a whopping Tk3 lakh in a period of 18 months.

The offer, to some villagers, seemed like – making money hand over fist. So why not? That is how Ruhul Amin and his associates conned dozens of people in Dupchanchia upazila, leaving them penniless and in dire straits.

Pothatti is now the centre of a police investigation after a number of people, who fell victim to this cryptocurrency scam, went to the police and lodged four cases with different police stations in Bogura.

The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI), the investigating agency of the cases, already submitted chargesheets, copies of which have been obtained by The Business Standard (TBS), against a total of 11 accused.

According to the PBI, offering exorbitant profits, the scammers conned hundreds of villagers and swindled crores of taka during the pandemic as most people were displaced from their workplaces.

One of the victims, Md Abdul Majid, a pharmacist in Pothatti village who used to make a decent living, met Ruhul Amin around two years ago. 

Ruhul told him all about Bitcoin and showed him a video depicting digital currency transactions across the globe. Majid got excited and promptly decided to invest in this mysterious business about which he knew very little at a time when Bitcoin's price was soaring.

"It is a hundred times more profitable than any other business if you invest in Bitcoin, Ruhul said to me," Abdul Majid told TBS.

"After talking to Ruhul Amin and some other investors, I was convinced and invested around Tk90,000. I opened an account in my name with an app called 'NZ Robo Trade'. Ruhul told me the amount will be converted to USD and then utilised in a digital trading platform. I will receive my proceeds in that account," Majid continued. 

"I was really sceptical and scared but to my surprise, I received around Tk15,000 in profits within a month, which stimulated me for further investments. Gradually, I invested as much as Tk5 lakh and the app became completely non-functional within a few months," Majid said.

"I tried to reach Ruhul Amin, but there was no luck. It took a while but I came to realise there was no Bitcoin. It was a trap and I had fallen into it well. All my hard-earned money just evaporated into thin air," Majid said while breaking into tears.

"It was not all their fault, it was our fault too. Like me, many people got hypnotised by the investment opportunity that offered stellar profit," he said, adding: "I invested all I had in different instalments. Now I have lost everything, I am a beggar."

Majid and 10 other victims filed a case with Dupchanchia Police Station under the Digital Security Act against a tech-related company named "NZ Robo Trade" and also made Ruhul Amin accused in the case.

In the case statement, Majid mentioned that the scammers first launched the software "NZ Robo Trade" and told people that it is operated from New Zealand, an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, as Bangladesh has not yet legalised bitcoin transactions within the country. 

In 2020 and 2021, the scammers opened branch offices in Pothatti village and in some other places in Bogura.

In the case statement, Majid mentioned that he along with ten others from Pothatti village invested around $5,300 in 2020 and 2021.

The other investors are Fatema (Tk28,200), Fahmida (Tk1,090), Morjina (Tk46,200), Bithy Khatun (Tk28,200), Razia (Tk90,000), Poly (Tk90,000), Harunur Rashid (Tk90,000), Nasima (Tk46,200), Altaf (Tk28,200) and Bashar (Tk28,200).

In the case, Majid accused eight persons of Dupchancia upazila – Ruhul Amin, 35, Md Ismail Hossain, 28, Golam Mostafa Sarker, 55, Md Abu Sayed, 53, Md Masud Rana, 27, Md Mainul Islam, 27, Md Belal Hossain, 56 and Md Kamrul Islam, 33. 

So far, 56 victims from various places in Bogura came forward and filed cases against these accused. 

According to the victims, they invested around Tk30 lakhs in this so-called Bitcoin trade and lost it all. 

Abu Yusuf, additional superintendent of police at the PBI Headquarters, told TBS, "After the investigation, we found evidence of a total loss of $39,700 dollars, which is equivalent to around Tk32 lakh."

The PBI official also said that the actual amount of swindling is likely to be higher as most of the victims did not claim their losses or file any case.

According to PBI, in August 2021, after a man named Farid Uddin Pramanik from Pothatti village filed a case, the Rapid Action Battalion raided the office of NZ Robo Trade and arrested Ruhul Amin, Ismail Hossain, Belal Hossain and Kamrul Islam who were made accused in the case.

The RAB also seized Tk5,68,000 cash and digital devices. However, after a few months of detention, the accused came out of prison on bail. 

According to the victims, after getting out of jail, the accused also threatened them repeatedly when they demanded the money back. 

Officials related to the investigation said that the prime accused Ruhul Amin used to live in Singapore. After returning home, he launched the company "NZ Robo Trade" by renting a house in Pothatti in February 2020, and started seeking investments from locals. 

Akramul Hossain, the then investigation monitoring officer of the cases and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bogura PBI, told TBS, "The victims, without having any direct knowledge about digital currency Bitcoin, invested their hard-earned money. But, due to legal complicacy, getting back their money is a long shot," he added.

What is Bitcoin?

According to Investopedia, Bitcoin (BTC) is a cryptocurrency, a virtual currency designed to act as money and a form of payment outside the control of any one person, group, or entity, thus removing the need for third-party involvement in financial transactions.

Bitcoin was introduced to the public in 2009 by an anonymous developer or group of developers using the name Satoshi Nakamoto.

Bitcoin is created, distributed, traded, and stored using a decentralised ledger system known as a blockchain.