RingID director held over embezzlement of Tk213cr

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police has arrested e-commerce company RingID’s Director Saiful Islam from the capital’s Gulshan area for allegedly embezzling Tk213 crore from customers.

RingID had collected the money between May and July this year by luring people with promises of employment and profit through investment in foreign companies. The firm embezzled Tk23.94 crore in May, Tk109.13 crore in June and Tk79.38 crore in July, says a press release.

CID sources said the company did not have permission from the authorities to collect money from their customers and make foreign investments. During the primary investigation, Saiful claimed that he was not fully aware about the people involved with his company, and how the collected funds were spent.

Responding to a query, Additional Superintendent of Police at CID (Media) Azadur Rahman told The Business Post, “We have requested the Bangladesh Bank to freeze the bank accounts [of the accused] so that the company cannot launder the money abroad.”

On 30 September this year, victims of the alleged scam filed two cases against 15 people including Saiful with Dhaka’s Vatara police station under the digital security act and multi-level marketing act.

Besides, several cases have been filed against the company in different police stations across the country, CID sources have said.

According to the police, RingID was launched as a social media platform similar to Facebook, but the company later began collecting money from people with promises of providing jobs and profits through foreign investments.

CID’s cyber police – who were monitoring the platform – had informed the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) after finding evidence of suspicious transactions. The BFIU then began investigating the company.

On 28 September, the BFIU sought RingID’s bank details from all scheduled banks. It also asked them to relay information about any bank accounts belonging to RingID Distribution Ltd and RingID BD Ltd.

Sources say a large number of people across the country had deposited money into the platform. It also sold various goods with discounts.

A number of customers had previously informed the police that RingID offered different membership cards including gold, silver, platinum, and probasi memberships, and had collected money against these packages.

However, most customers complained of not receiving their card or the mentioned benefits. There are also allegations that the platform embezzled crores of taka through their agents.