illegal money transfer to Bangladesh

25 Dubai shops penalised

A crackdown across Dubai unearthed an illegal money transfer racket run by 25 shops, the Department of Economic Development (DED) revealed on Saturday, reports the Gulf News. The shop operators lured Bangladeshi expatriates with the offer of cheaper money transfers to their home country. The transactions were done using an app called ‘Bkash,’ but the practice left the customers vulnerable to fraud.
All 25 shops, which were involved in the illegal activity, were not authorised to offer remittance services. “The DED acted on a tip-off and raided the shops, spread across different areas in Dubai, and found out that none of them were licensed to provide money transfer services. All the shops advertised the illegal activity in Bengali language to avoid suspicion,” said Mohammad Ali Rashid Lootah, CEO of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection sector in the DED.
The transfers were done through SIM cards from Bangladesh installed in electronic devices and no invoices were issued to customers. The shopkeepers used to scribble down customer details and the amount to be transferred and the transfer was done electronically.
“We have also confiscated the devices that were used to transfer money. First of all, none of the shops had money transfer as permitted activity in their licences and they didn’t have the mandatory approvals from the UAE Central Bank,” said Lootah.
Our staff reporter adds: Spokesman of Bangladesh Bank and executive director, Shubhakar Saha told The Independent that the central bank has been conducting investigation against illegal financial transactions.
The bank sent a report to the government of Dubai through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to hand over to law enforcers in Dubai.
He said this type of illegal transaction is happening in Malaysia, and Singapore too.
“We welcome the move by the UAE government to curb the activities of the unscrupulous persons and entities who are impersonating themselves as mobile banking agents and illegally using the logos of the mobile financial service (MFS) providers in their shops, luring the migrant Bangladeshi to send remittance through unauthorized channels,” he said.
“In an effort to thwart the illegal practices of sending remittance through informal channels, a letter has been dispatched by bKash as advised by Bangladesh Bank to eight countries— United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar Singapore, Malaysia by bKash requesting Bangladesh’s High Commissioners / Ambassadors, to use their good office to make appropriate intervention in conjunction with host nations,” the central bank official said. “bKash has also placed advertisement in both Bangla and English language media in different countries and put notice in its website and its social media channels to create awareness among the migrant Bangladeshi community on this kind of  fraudulent practices urging them to use legal channels for remittances service. bKash engages itself in complete adherence to its AML and CFT practices in accordance to the prescribed rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank,” he added.

illegal money transfer to Bangladesh

25 Dubai shops penalised

A crackdown across Dubai unearthed an illegal money transfer racket run by 25 shops, the Department of Economic Development (DED) revealed on Saturday, reports the Gulf News. The shop operators lured Bangladeshi expatriates with the offer of cheaper money transfers to their home country. The transactions were done using an app called Bkash, but the practice left the customers vulnerable to fraud. All 25 shops, which were involved in the illegal activity, were not authorised to offer remittance services. The DED acted on a tip-off and raided the shops, spread across different areas in Dubai, and found out that none of them were licensed to provide money transfer services. All the shops advertised the illegal activity in Bengali language to avoid suspicion, said Mohammad Ali Rashid Lootah, CEO of the Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection sector in the DED. The transfers were done through SIM cards from Bangladesh installed in electronic devices and no invoices were issued to customers. The shopkeepers used to scribble down customer details and the amount to be transferred and the transfer was done electronically. We have also confiscated the devices that were used to transfer money. First of all, none of the shops had money transfer as permitted activity in their licences and they didnt have the mandatory approvals from the UAE Central Bank, said Lootah. Our staff reporter adds: Spokesman of Bangladesh Bank and executive director, Shubhakar Saha told The Independent that the central bank has been conducting investigation against illegal financial transactions. The bank sent a report to the government of Dubai through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to hand over to law enforcers in Dubai. He said this type of illegal transaction is happening in Malaysia, and Singapore too. We welcome the move by the UAE government to curb the activities of the unscrupulous persons and entities who are impersonating themselves as mobile banking agents and illegally using the logos of the mobile financial service (MFS) providers in their shops, luring the migrant Bangladeshi to send remittance through unauthorized channels, he said. In an effort to thwart the illegal practices of sending remittance through informal channels, a letter has been dispatched by bKash as advised by Bangladesh Bank to eight countries United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar Singapore, Malaysia by bKash requesting Bangladeshs High Commissioners / Ambassadors, to use their good office to make appropriate intervention in conjunction with host nations, the central bank official said. bKash has also placed advertisement in both Bangla and English language media in different countries and put notice in its website and its social media channels to create awareness among the migrant Bangladeshi community on this kind of fraudulent practices urging them to use legal channels for remittances service. bKash engages itself in complete adherence to its AML and CFT practices in accordance to the prescribed rules and regulations of Bangladesh Bank, he added.