Student Visa Fraud: Agency Owner Remanded Over £200,000 Scam

A Dhaka court has granted a three-day police remand for Nabil Youssuf, who was arrested over his alleged involvement in a fraudulent student visa agency that defrauded aspiring students out of millions of taka.

Metropolitan Magistrate Kamal Uddin issued the remand order on Wednesday following a hearing at the Dhaka Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court. Officers from the Uttara East Police Station had produced the suspect in court with a prayer for a seven-day remand to facilitate further interrogation. Sub-Inspector Helal Uddin from the court’s prosecution department confirmed the judicial order to the press.

According to case documents, Youssuf operated an agency named “VisaGuide”, through which he allegedly promised students places at overseas universities. The complainant, Jarin Tasnim, along with at least 35 other victims, paid approximately 31 million taka (over £200,000) to the agency for visa processing and educational placements abroad.

Although the agency issued money receipts and post-dated cheques as financial guarantees, none of the applicants were placed in institutions abroad, nor were their funds returned within the stipulated period. Suspicions grew until 5 July, when several victims visited the consultancy’s premises only to discover that the office had been vacated overnight and the agency’s management had absconded.

Following the discovery, Tasnim lodged a formal complaint at the Uttara East Police Station on 12 July. Acting on intelligence, law enforcement officers arrested Youssuf on 4 August from the Purba Rajabazar area in Farmgate, Dhaka. The suspect originates from the Sat Bhaiyapara area in the Sonargaon sub-district of Narayanganj.

Reporting by news agency UNB indicates that four co-accused—identified as Sabbir Hossain, Motiur Rahman, Saidur Rahman, and Rabeya Khatun Tania—have already been arrested and sent to jail pending trial.

In the remand application presented before the court, the investigating officer stressed that custodial interrogation is essential to uncover the full operational mechanism of the fraud syndicate, identify hidden accomplices, trace the misappropriated funds, and determine whether additional victims have been targeted using similar tactics.