A credit card scam involving over Tk 10 crore has been detected at United Commercial Bank (UCB).
The bank has initially identified four of its top and mid-ranking officials who withdrew the amount from the bank by using 21 credit cards between 2007 and May 2012.
The four -- Assistant Vice-president Nahidul Haque, Executive Officer Zahid Hossain and two senior officers Maruf Haider and Md Shahidullah -- were handed over to police on Sunday following an internal investigation of the bank, officials said.
A Dhaka court yesterday placed them on a four-day remand.
“They did it very accurately. They followed all the procedures to get the credit cards,” Shafiqul Alam, additional managing director of UCB, told The Daily Star.
“They also showed the withdrawn money deposited in the bank's accounts. But the money was not deposited at all,” he added.
Most of the 21 cards were issued against the close relatives, including brothers and wives of the accused officials, according to the bank's investigation.
Credit card fraud is common in developed countries, particularly in the US and in Europe, where scammers use spy ware or other mechanisms to obtain a credit card's details, which they use to withdraw money through a duplicate credit card.
There are examples of credit card fraud in India and other Asian countries.
But the UCB case is the first such instance in a bank in Bangladesh.
The inquiry shows that Nahidul Haque, the assistant vice-president, withdrew more than half of the Tk 10 crore using nine cards. He is the highest beneficiary of the scam.
He pocketed more than Tk 1 crore through using a card belonging to one Sabbir Ahmed Hussain. He used another card belonging to one Liton Talukder to pocket another Tk 1.5 crore.
“Their luxurious life style prompted me to open an internal inquiry,” said Shahjahan Bhuiyan, managing director of UCB.
Shafiqul Alam, the additional managing director, said, "The investigation is underway and we don't rule out the thought that more officials might be involved in it."
However, the scam would not hamper the bank's operations and no client of the bank would bear the brunt, he added.