3 held for hacking digital system of super shop Shwapno

The Cyber Crime Investigation Department of Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit has arrested three hackers on charges of hacking into the digital system of Shwapno super shop and misappropriating digital vouchers worth around Tk 18 lakh on Saturday.

The arrestees are Md Nasimul Islam, 23, Rehanur Hasan Rashed, 22, and Raisul Islam, 25. They were arrested on Saturday in different raids in Dhaka’s Mirpur area, Naogaon and Gaibandha district, said the CTTC chief Md Asaduzzaman.

The hacker group broke the powerful cyber security system of Shwapno. Huge amounts of unusual and suspicious digital vouchers were generated and sold between 26 June and 9 July.

Later, the matter came to the notice of the Shwapno authorities, who lodged a complaint with the DMP's City Cyber Crime Investigation Division.

Police also seized six mobile phones, two laptops, and a CPU used in hacking, cryptocurrency, cash, electronic card, and huge quantities of goods purchased through Shwapno e-vouchers from the arrestees, said the CTTC chief while addressing a press briefing conference on Sunday.

Asaduzzaman said, “Shwapno super shop manages all business activities including sales monitoring, inventory management, staff management, financial transaction accounting and digital voucher management through 186 outlets across the country. The digital system of Shwapno is made highly secure in accordance with the Advanced Cyber Security Protocol.”

However, between June 26 and July 9, the hackers broke the powerful cyber security system of Shwapno and generated huge amounts of unusual and suspicious digital vouchers and sold them, he said.

The CTTC’s cyber unit later identifies the digital footprint of the hacker gang through advanced technology including forensic analysis and reverse analysis of the digital system of Shwapno. Then, they conducted raid and arrested three, he further said.

Citing preliminary interrogations of the arrestees, the CTTC chief said the arrestees hacked Shwapno’s digital system and sold digital vouchers worth Tk 18 lakh to a few e-commerce users at a 25 per cent discount through a Facebook group.

Thus, they have swindled huge sums of money and deposited them in various crypto-currency accounts. Cryptocurrency transactions worth about Tk20 lakh were recovered from digital devices seized from the arrestees, he explained further.