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Published : 30 Mar 2026, 03:42 PM
Even though Tk 441.4 million siphoned off through cryptocurrency by the much-discussed Metaverse Foreign Exchange Group Incorporated (MTFE) has been recovered, it will not be easy to return the money to investors due to “loopholes in the process”, say investigators.
Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Abul Bashar Talukder of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) revealed the information at a press conference in Dhaka on Monday.
He said: “The money is now in a CID bank account. However, even if it has been brought back to the country, it is very difficult to refund the investors.
“There are many legal loopholes here,” the police officer said citing mandatory approvals from the court and the central bank.
“These processes are really complicated. Therefore, if anybody doesn’t want to go through these processes, I request our countrymen not to invest in such platforms."
DIG Bashar told reporters that the MTFE used foreign apps and different techniques to lure Bangladeshis into the Ponzi scheme.
In a Ponzi scheme, a fraudster pays returns to some investors using money from other investments.
According to the CID, the fraudulent online investment platform has agents in Bangladesh and elsewhere across the world.
“The MTFE operates globally and has thousands of agents,” Bashar said, hoping to make a breakthrough in the case once an agent is arrested.
The police officer, however, said they were not sure exactly how many people were affected in Bangladesh.
“Many investors are not reporting the scam or even refusing to file a case,” he said, adding that even many of those affected do not know how they will get a remedy.
The MTFE, which claims to be based in Dubai and works on the multi-level marketing method, began operations in Bangladesh in June 2022, aggressively promoting its activities on Facebook and YouTube.
In 2023, it opened offices in different parts of the country and started embezzling money from people, especially from Rajshahi, Cumilla and Barishal. By mid-2023, investors started failing to withdraw their money and around the same period, the MTFE shut down all its offices.
Soon afterwards, an investor identified as Maruf Rahman Mahim filed a case with Khilgaon Police Station in August 2023.
An average of $8.27 billion was laundered from Bangladesh annually through trade mis-invoicing between 2009 and 2018, Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed said, referring to a report from a publication in Australia earlier this month.
Addressing a summit there, he expressed his concerns over the frauds involving MTFE and various controversial e-commerce platforms.
The minister then acknowledged that the existing Penal Code of 1860 is "inadequate" to address such modern “white-collar crimes”, vowing to reform the law to ensure justice.
