BTRC blames bKash for SIM-linked swindling
STAFF REPORTER
Mobile financial service provider bKash was responsible for the fraudulent withdrawal of money through Robi connections in Chittagong recently, according to Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) Director General Brig Gen Emdad Ul Bari.
Addressing the inauguration of short code for customer service for biometric registration in the capital yesterday, he also said two agents of bKash were arrested by Chittagong police for their alleged involvement in the fraud.
bKash, however, denied their responsibility saying that the customers, the victims in case of the Chittagong incident, may have unwittingly disclosed their account PINs which may have led to the unwarranted withdrawal of money. Even the criminals might have tricked the victims, the company claimed.
bKash spokesperson Zahedul Islam said, Deposit in bKash account is protected by individuals Personal Identification Number (PIN) which a customer creates when he/she registers for a bKash account. Only the accountholder has knowledge of his/her secret PIN. Each transaction a customer makes is authenticated by entering the PIN by respective accountholder.
He also said that in case of a SIM replacement, the bKash account is automatically deactivated for a period of 24 hours to 36 hours as per agreed arrangement with all Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
In the reported incident in Chittagong, it is assumed that the victim might have disclosed his/her PIN unwittingly or the criminals have tricked in him or her to know the PIN which was subsequently used to draw money from victims bKash account, Islam added.
The fraud came to light following the arrest of two men in Chittagongs Satkania upazila on Monday.
According to police, the duo had allegedly withdrawn huge amounts of money from bKash accounts through Robi SIMs.
The police swung into the action following a complaint lodged with the Satkania police by one of the victims, Nurunnahar Begum, stating that Tk 20,400 was fraudulently withdrawn from her bKash account, which was attached with her Robi SIM.
According to the complainant, Nurunnahar Begums Robi SIM was blocked for some days. When she went to the nearby Robi customer care centre, she was told that her SIM was withdrawn and registered by someone named Kutub. Later, she showed evidence and got the SIM back but found money missing from her bKash account.
A day after the arrest of the two persons in Chittagong in connection with the fraudulence, the BTRC sought an explanation from mobile operator Robi on how money was swindled from bKash accounts through its SIMs registered through biometric verification of original owners.
However, staving off the possibility of Robis fault in the incidents, BTRC director general Bari said only bKash could provide the PIN code needed for carrying out transactions through the financial service provider. Mobile operators have no involvement in that case, he added.
The BTRC director general further said that unless a PIN has been compromised, it is not possible to access the mobile money account of a subscriber by a third party. The biometric verification of SIMs of all subscribers is in progress, and biometric re-verification is mandatory when it comes to SIM replacement as well, he added.
Bari said that a subscriber had complained that his SIM was not registered through biometric verification and hence it was possible for the agent to replace the SIM.
Here, I want to assure you that someone with bKash was involved. This is because as per the existing regulations, if a SIM is replaced, then the bKash service remains closed for the next 48 hours. This provision is kept so that the bKash service provider can get it registered in their database, he added.
bKash Limited is a joint-venture between Bangladeshs BRAC Bank Limited and the US-based Money in Motion LLC. At present, 20 banks in the country offer mobile financial services, with bKash leading with 58 per cent of market share, followed by DBBL with 16.6 per cent.
At the programme, the BRTC director general also said the SIMs registered through biometric verification will be stored in the database for the next 18 months. After that, the mobile operator could sell those SIMs if they want to do so and people would have to buy them at the price of a regular SIM.
He said the BRTC has been informed about some irregularities in SIM re-registration in Ashulia. There was a certain agent and a retailer, who had registered several SIMs against one person. Later, we took appropriate steps to address the issue, he said, urging customers to remain alert against such malpractices.
BTRC chairman Shajahan Mahmud said that the time for biometric registration will not be extended beyond May 31. So, everybody has to get registered by then, he added.
After that, unregistered SIMs will remain closed for the next two months. During that period the registered SIMs will be crosschecked with the subscribers national IDs.
Mahmud said 9.70 crore subscribers have completed their registration through biometric verification till now. More than three crore subscribers are still unregistered. I urge them to complete the registration process as soon as possible, he added.
BRTC officials said the short code 2872 inaugurated yesterday would be available to subscribers from 9am to 5pm from Sunday to Thursday.
BTRC is yet to fix any call tariff for the short code, but mobile phone users could make calls at low tariffs, they added.
It is to be noted that the total value of monthly transactions made through mobile phones in Bangladesh was USD 1.42 billion (Tk 11,104 crore) in February 2015, according to a study titled Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh.
As per the study, the number of registered clients had increased more than five-fold from five million to over 25 million between January 2013 and February 2015.
