CID recovers Tk44cr laundered money

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has recovered about $3.6 million, equivalent to more than Tk44.14 crore, from money laundered abroad through an online fraudulent platform called MTFE (Metaverse Foreign Exchange).

CID Cyber Police Centre (CPC) Deputy Inspector General Md Abul Bashar Talukdar disclosed the information at a press briefing at the agency’s headquarters in Malibagh, Dhaka, on Monday.

He said a case was filed with Khilgaon police station on August 28, 2023, after one victim was cheated through MTFE. Although the complainant said he had lost nearly Tk2 lakh, CID’s investigation found that numerous investors had been defrauded of crores of taka through the platform.

Investigators found that MTFE began operating in Bangladesh in June 2022 and attracted investors through advertisements on Facebook and YouTube promising quick profits.

CID said the platform showed digital dollars in users’ virtual trading accounts, but the transactions were entirely fake. The group initially returned some money to gain investors’ trust before abruptly stopping operations in mid-2023 and disappearing.

The investors’ money was then transferred abroad through various cryptocurrency wallets. CID later found that about $3.6 million collected through the fraud had been kept in the international cryptocurrency exchange OKX.
Using blockchain analysis tools, investigators traced the money to the fraud network and contacted OKX’s legal team to recover the funds through legal channels. Following a court order, a government account was opened in the name of CID at the Malibagh branch of state-run Sonali Bank.
The laundered cryptocurrency was also converted into legal currency through a deal with UK-based Asset Reality Ltd. After all procedures were completed, the equivalent of $3,622,998 was deposited into the Sonali Bank account.
CID said cooperation from the United States and other international agencies, along with diplomatic support, helped recover the money quickly. Investigation of the case is still under way, and the process of returning the money to identified victims will begin in line with court instructions.
Operations to recover the remaining laundered money are also ongoing