Fake cheques used to rob DU teacher's Sonali Bank account

A Dhaka University professor says he has lost nearly Tk 700,000 to cheque fraud.

Muhammad Shahadat Hossain Siddiquee, associate accounting professor, said he was out of the country when the incident happened.

The money was withdrawn in four attempts from his account in state-owned Sonali Bank.

“I went to England on Mar 20 for research. I came back on May 12 and went to the Sonali Bank's university branch to withdraw money on May 16, Tuesday.

"When I checked my balance, I got to know that there was only Tk 39968 left in my account, against an expected Tk 700,000,” Siddiquee told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.

“Then I checked my statement and saw that someone withdrew money four times from my account. Tk 200,000 from the bank's Hajipur branch in Chandpur on March 20.

"Another Tk 200,000 was taken from the Sadarghat Corporate branch on Mar 29. The thief used the same branch to draw up Tk 181,000 on Apr 2, and returned to it on Apr 9 to take out another Tk 90,000.”

The cheques used to withdraw the money were fakes, he said. “My cheque book is with me. The numbers that were on the cheques that was used are still in here! Until now, I have only used three pages for withdrawals.”

“Usually one person issues a cheque and the bank normally notifies the customer if anyone tries to withdraw over Tk 100,000 from an account," Hossain said.

"But the bank did not contact me even though I was in the country for 10 days. I was in the country on Mar 20, the same day someone withdrew Tk 200,000 from Chandpur, yet, nobody contacted me!”

“On Wednesday, the deputy general manager asked to see my cheque book and I showed him. The bank authorities will investigate the whole incident,” he added.

 “I received a complaint that someone stole money from a professor using different branches of the Sonali Bank. The bank assured me that they will investigate the matter,” said Amzad Ali, acting proctor of Dhaka University.

“The professor's account was opened at university branch but the money was withdrawn from various other branches. We will investigate this incident,” said Nurul Haq, deputy general manager of Sonali Bank's Dhaka University branch.