Editor’s note, October 2026 — This 2021 report concerns Nagad protecting customer balances. It is kept as published, but readers should know what followed: Bangladesh Bank placed Nagad under an appointed administrator in 2024, suspended its digital banking licence, and in 2025 filed a case alleging fraud and embezzlement of Tk645 crore. The sequence is below the original article.
As a result of the extensive analysis, it was possible to identify the accounts involved in the scam and at the same time completely secure the money of 18,000 customers, said a press release.
After the time consuming analysis, Shirajganj.com CEO Jewel Rana's account, accounts of his family members, business partners and employees were also identified. The process of legal action on the matter is in progress.
The customers are already enjoying the regular functionality with the reactivated accounts as well as all the exciting Nagad offers. No money was deducted from the accounts which were temporarily suspended.
After observing signs of suspicious transactions with some e-commerce platforms three weeks back, to maintain customer security Nagad's state-of-the-ark technology automatically put some accounts on hold temporarily.
Later, through ongoing discussion with the authorities, extensive analysis and scrutiny, the accounts with satisfactory results were opened phases by phase.
Earlier, Nagad announced to identify the accounts involved behind the scam by September 23 and reactivate the other accounts on hold. And Nagad delivered the promise day before the schedule.
Nagad Managing Director Tanvir A Mishuk said, "I want to assure all that customers security is top of our priority list. Already, balance on hold accounts were reactivated in phases with complete security and ensuring the refund from the Shirajganj Shop. As per our commitment to our valued customers we took the measures to remove their misery. And this trust is having a name, Nagad."
He also announced gifts for the affected customers which already delivered to the beneficiaries.
Nagad always working for the betterment of the people and also determined to ensure security of the money of its customers.
Since its launch on March 26, 2019, Bangladesh Post Office's mobile financial service Nagad has been working to move people's financial transactions to the digital platform.
In last two and a half years Nagad acquired 5.5 crore customer with a daily average transaction of more than BDT 700 crore.
What happened to Nagad
August 2024. Bangladesh Bank appointed an administrator to run Nagad — Muhammad Badiuzzaman Dider, director of the central bank's Chattogram office — for a year. The High Court subsequently ruled the appointment lawful.
February 2025. Dider resigned after being attacked by unidentified assailants, who also took hammers to his vehicle and injured his driver. His investigation had implicated Nagad's former managing director, Tanvir Ahmed Mishuk, who was reported to have threatened him to halt it. Md Motasem Billah, also of the central bank's Chattogram office, was appointed in his place.
Also February 2025. Bangladesh Bank filed a case alleging fraud, embezzlement and financial irregularities totalling Tk645 crore, naming 24 individuals — 16 officials of Nagad Ltd and eight of the Directorate of Posts. The Anti-Corruption Commission found that Nagad had created excessive e-money and moved funds through several foreign companies.
Nagad's digital banking licence was suspended pending review.
What "excessive e-money creation" means
This is the allegation that matters technically, and it needs explaining because it is not intuitive.
A mobile financial service is supposed to be fully backed: for every taka of electronic balance in customer wallets, a taka of real money sits in a trust account at a bank. The digital balance is a claim on that deposit, not money in itself. Creating e-money in excess of the backing means issuing claims against deposits that are not there — which is, in effect, the operator lending itself its customers' money.
Nothing is visible to users while this is happening. Balances display normally and withdrawals clear, because only a fraction of customers withdraw at once. The gap appears when they do, which is why this category of problem is found by an inspection rather than by a customer.
Why the 2021 story reads differently now
Securing 18,000 accounts was a real action and the report of it was accurate. But it addressed the visible risk — individual accounts being compromised — rather than the structural one, which was whether the float behind every account was intact.
That distinction is the practical lesson for anyone using a mobile wallet anywhere: account security protects your balance from other people, and only regulation of the trust account protects it from the operator.
