Scammers target 50+ SCB credit cards, steal BDT 27 lakh: report

An organised fraud scheme has targeted Standard Chartered Bank's credit card holders in Bangladesh, siphoning off around BDT 27 lakh in a series of unauthorised transactions in the last week of August 2025, according to a recent report by Dhaka Stream.

Citing a source from Bangladesh Bank (BB), the report mentioned that at least 54 customers of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) were affected, with around BDT 50,000 withdrawn from each card. The funds were channelled into mobile financial service (MFS) platforms within seconds of one-time passwords (OTPs) being generated, raising questions about the security of digital banking transactions.

Several victims insisted they had never shared their OTPs or engaged in suspicious online activity. One customer wrote on Facebook that BDT 50,000 was debited from his Standard Chartered Visa card and moved to a bKash account in less than 20 seconds. 

"From the time the OTP arrived, this transaction took a maximum of 20 seconds or less. No one asked me for the OTP. My phone was in front of me, my computer in front of me. Just the OTP arrived, and then the money transfer was done," the user wrote on September 4.

Standard Chartered Bank has recently suspended all transfers from credit cards to MFS accounts and disabled the "Add Money" feature, which was reportedly exploited in the scam. 

"Dear valued client, you may transfer funds to MFS bKash via the SC Mobile app at any time. Please note, the Add Money option from MFS apps is temporarily unavailable to ensure secure transactions," SCB informed customers through text message on September 10.

According to the report, SCB said its local and global technology teams found no vulnerabilities in its own systems. Instead, officials suggested that the fraud exploited weaknesses in MFS platforms.

BB sources, however, indicated that the stolen funds were withdrawn within minutes after being transferred to MFS accounts, with the linked phone numbers deactivated soon after, pointing to a highly organised and technically skilled group behind the theft, as per the report by Dhaka Stream.