Dubai-based application Metaverse Foreign Exchange Group-MTFE is conducting activities like a digital institution, but the Ministry of Commerce is not able to take action as it has no institutional structure in the country.
The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms (RJSC) does not take responsibility for not being registered even though it operates like an MLM company.
In this situation, even as the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) investigates the fraud, the affected customers of MTFE, who have invested in the institution, are uncertain about refunding their money. MTFE, a Dubai-based organization, has stolen billions of taka from thousands of customers by promoting various attractive offers through apps.
By branding it as a Shariah-compliant platform, the general public is enticed to profit by investing in various products like cryptocurrencies, forex trading and MLM companies. Investors were also offered additional bonuses and commissions if they brought new customers to the investment. As a result, its activities spread silently from app to app in different parts of the country including Rajshahi, Kushtia, Faridpur, Jessore.
Apart from Bangladesh, many people also invest in these apps in Nigeria and Sri Lanka. The application was shut down on August 17, leaving investors stranded.
A BFIU official, on the condition of autonomy, told Bangladesh Pratidin, “We are working on MTFE. Since the company did not have a bank account in the country, it is difficult to determine the financial amount involved in this virtual fraud. Information is being collected in this regard.”
According to sources, the government's law enforcement agencies are also conducting a separate investigation into the MTFE scam. The cyber intelligence team of CID is monitoring the matter. For this, victimized customers and fraudsters are also advised to contact the CID Cyber Support Center for information and complaints. But even that does not reduce the uncertainty of refund. As the activities of the institution were not legal in any way.
As a result, the investors concerned are not giving information about the refund due to fear of legal inquiry. Even though different institutions of the country are investigating the issues of digital fraud, the digital commerce cell of the Ministry of Commerce is coordinating the refund of the affected customers.
In the meantime, several hundred crores of taka have been returned to the victims of various organizations including Evely, QCom. It is learned that after the MTFE scam, Digital Commerce Cell produced a document in this regard along with paper-cutting and sent it to senior officials of the Ministry of Commerce. Based on that document, a letter was also sent to RJSC to take action against the institution. RJSC said that they have not given registration to any institution named MTFE. As a result they have nothing to do against unregistered institutions.
Commerce Ministry's Senior Secretary Tapan Kanti Ghosh was out of the country and his comments could not be obtained in this matter.
Maleka Khairunnecha, additional secretary of the concerned ministry, told Bangladesh Pratidin that although the MTFE document has been presented to her, she is not aware of the latest progress in this regard. He suggested contacting the Office of the Trade Counselor.
Abul Kalam Azad, the statistical officer of that office, said that they were asked to ask questions from the National Parliament about the return of MTFE money; They informed the parliament that the licensing process of MLM company is suspended and the court case is ongoing in this regard. As a result, they cannot take any action in this regard without the direction of the court.
(The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on October 01 and rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan)
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