Within just two days, two customers in Sherpur withdrew money from a post office and received counterfeit notes.
Both victims discovered the fake bills when they tried to deposit the money in two separate banks — where the bank authorities identified the notes as counterfeit.
It is reported that in both cases, the post office handed out fake 1,000-taka notes.
One of the victims is Shahina Begum, an illiterate elderly woman from Ganoe Mominakanda village in Sherpur Sadar upazila.
The 60-year-old withdrew money from her savings account at the post office on October 7. When she went to deposit Tk 269,000 at Uttara Bank in Sherpur town on October 12, the bank found that 53 notes of Tk 1,000 each — a total of Tk 53,000 — were fake.
Shahina’s daughter, Sumi Akter, told Dhaka Post:
“My mother saved this money with great hardship. She’s a simple woman and told the postal officer that she couldn’t read or write. He took advantage of that and gave her fake notes. If the CCTV footage from the post office is reviewed, the truth will come out.”
The accused postal officer, Manik Mia, said:
“The woman withdrew her money on October 7. She came back five days later claiming the notes were fake. That’s not right. We always tell customers to check their cash before leaving. She accepted the money, so we can’t take responsibility.”
Another victim, Nurul Mia — an employee of the local Rashida Factory — withdrew money from the same post office two days later, on October 9.
When he tried to deposit Tk 243,000 at Sonali Bank, 25 counterfeit notes were detected.
Officials from the post office were present at the scene and replaced the fake notes on the spot.
What’s alarming is that while Nurul Mia’s issue was resolved immediately, seven days later, Shahina Begum’s case remains unsettled — the post office has taken no action regarding her counterfeit notes.
Masud Hasan Badol, General Secretary of the Sherpur Press Club, said:
“Even one of my acquaintances recently withdrew Tk 10,000 from a private bank at New Market and found a fake Tk 1,000 note among them. These incidents are deeply concerning.”
[Counterfeit Notes Found in Government Post Office Vault — Two Customers Defrauded in Sherpur Within Two Days]
The post office is traditionally seen as a trusted institution for safeguarding people’s savings — from hard-earned wages to retirement pensions.
But frequent reports of counterfeit notes emerging from such government institutions are alarming and are eroding public confidence.
Finding fake currency inside the vault of a post office or a bank is unprecedented in Bangladesh.
If people continue to be defrauded in this way amid the country’s ongoing corruption, irregularities, and instability, there’s no doubt that Bangladesh is heading toward a severe crisis.
