Patients with skin and sexual problems are usually reluctant to seek medication in public. And by taking advantage of this opportunity, a circle is grabbing a lot of money by catching their eyes with glamorous advertisements through social media. Two members of the gang, Mohammad Rashed Hossain Pranto (27) and Moushumi Khatun (23) have been arrested in this connection. During the preliminary interrogation, the detective police found evidence of their involvement in the fraud.
AKM Hafeez Akter, Additional Commissioner, Intelligence, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), conveyed this information at a press conference on Minto Road in the capital on Thursday (April 21).
He said, “The arrested gang used to cheat by deceiving the patients through mobile phones, Facebook, WhatsApp and other means of information technology; Sometimes disguised as doctor’s associates, sometimes by changing their voices by pretending to be doctors. The fraudsters have swindled hundreds of thousands of taka by giving prescriptions online and selling drugs.”
The police official said, “The gang has been carrying out such propaganda activities for the last two years. Using the names and surnames of popular doctors, he used to open fake Facebook IDs and advertise about various diseases including sexual and skin. They have swindled hundreds of thousands of taka through mobile financial services, such as bKash, Nagad and Rocket with fake prescriptions in the name of serving sick people who were stuck in houses during Covid19 pandemic.”
Hafiz Akhter said, “Besides, the gang has collected millions of taka from the relatives of the patients by collecting pictures of women and making offensive pictures through editing and sending them to Facebook, Messenger and multiple WhatsApp numbers.”
