Many may recall the scene of enthusiastic spectators holding orange-colored Ring ID placards in the gallery during BPL matches or the Bangladesh cricket team’s tournaments. Ring ID started as a social media and entertainment platform and eventually gained significant popularity among the young generation of Bangladesh. To achieve this popularity, it sponsored prominent cricket tournaments like the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), while famous cricketers like Shakib, Tamim, and Mushfiq also engaged with fans live on the platform. Even former popular content creator of the country, Tawhid Afridi, joined as the CEO of the company, further elevating the app’s popularity among the youth. However, behind its success, the platform, disguised as a social media platform, evolved into a means for earning online. In the name of online income, millions of youths in the country lost billions of taka, much of which is suspected to have been laundered abroad, according to law enforcement agencies. In today’s video, we will reveal the story behind Ring ID’s fraud.
Ring ID, which began as a social media platform, later turned into a Ponzi scheme under the guise of an MLM business claiming to offer online income. Today, we will tell you the story behind Ring ID’s deception.
In the name of online income, millions of youths in the country lost billions of taka. Law enforcement agencies suspect that a large portion of this money was laundered abroad. Today, we will reveal the story behind Ring ID’s fraud.
Overview
Ring ID was founded in 2015 by Shariful Islam and his wife, Irene Islam. Both were owners of two successful businesses in the International and Local Call Exchange sector, namely Cloud Tel Limited and Vision Tel Limited. Around 2015, Shariful Islam and Irene Islam initiated the creation of a social media platform. Before that, the government had banned Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp several times, prompting large conglomerates and others to work on creating a domestic alternative to Facebook. Like any other social media platform, Ring ID allowed users to stay connected with friends and family. It had features similar to Facebook, such as news feed, instant messaging, and secret chat. The app also offered voice and video calls, along with a feature called Media Cloud, where users could enjoy and share music and videos within the app. Gradually, live broadcasting and e-wallet features were added to the platform. In other words, Ring ID started as a platform similar to Bigo Live or Omegle. However, the founders aimed for the app to become more than just an entertainment and social media platform by incorporating opportunities for income through a social marketplace.
To popularize the newly launched platform, Ring ID launched extensive promotions through TV ads, newspaper ads, and social media campaigns. As part of its promotions, the company sponsored several tournaments of the Bangladesh national cricket team, including the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). Leveraging the cricket craze among the youth, they also brought famous cricketers like Shakib, Tamim, Mashrafe, Mushfiq, Taskin, and Ashraful live on their platform. To enhance its popularity and credibility, in April 2019, one of Bangladesh’s most popular YouTubers at the time, Tawhid Afridi, joined Ring Media as its CEO. With his vast fan base, Afridi promoted Ring ID. After he became the CEO of Ring Media, not only cricketers but also several notable figures from the drama industry started promoting Ring ID’s services. This included celebrities like Azmeri Asha, Peya Bipasha, and Bristy Islam. Moreover, renowned actors such as Afran Nisho, Tahsan, Apurba, Mehjabin, and Tasnia Farin acted in dramas sponsored by Ring ID, many of which can still be viewed on Ring Media’s YouTube channel. Internationally, the company also managed to bring celebrities like Nargis Fakhri, who starred in Rockstar alongside Ranbir Kapoor, and Sunny Leone for endorsements and live appearances on the platform. All of this demonstrates how much the company spent on promotions.
From the very beginning, Ring ID’s plan was to gain popularity and establish itself as a trustworthy platform. To that end, the company continuously engaged in endorsement and sponsorship deals with celebrities from the cricket and entertainment world. This was crucial as the app was being promoted not just as a social media platform but also as a way to earn money. From the start, there was an option to earn by referring others to the app, and the company continued introducing more income opportunities. Like many modern live broadcasting platforms, Ring ID offered the chance to earn through live coins and virtual gifts. While many contemporary apps focus heavily on adult content, Ring ID unveiled its features primarily as a service marketplace for entertainment, live education, and healthcare. Additionally, they introduced the Ring ID Store, where users could run an e-commerce business similar to drop-shipping without dealing with inventory or delivery issues. The company targeted students, housewives, expatriates, and businessmen, offering them the opportunity to become agents of the Ring ID Store.
During the pandemic, when educational institutions were closed, and many were unemployed and sitting idle at home, Ring ID seized the opportunity to shift its business model and launch an affiliate program, which was essentially a Ponzi scheme similar to MTFE. The company aggressively promoted this affiliate program on Facebook, luring people with promises of easy online earnings from home. Due to the involvement of Tawhid Afridi, a popular YouTuber and the CEO of Ring Media, many young people trusted and joined Ring ID. According to The Daily Star, between May and July 2021, Ring ID raised 212 crore taka through this affiliate program. On the other hand, according to TBS, the company scammed 302 crore taka. However, behind the facade of social networking, employment, and celebrities, Ring ID managed to scam at least 1,000 crore taka from millions of people in Bangladesh. But how exactly did the company manage such a massive fraud?
The Scam
The core strategy behind Ring ID’s fraud was essentially a Ponzi scheme, which operated under the guise of an MLM (multi-level marketing) business. The company frequently altered its business model. Even though it started as a social media platform, Ring ID introduced various new features like Ring TV, Ring Pay Wallet, and e-commerce. One of the ways to earn money through Ring ID was called “Community Jobs.” In these community jobs, users were paid in exchange for watching ads. Earning money by watching ads was not a new concept in Bangladesh; platforms like Dulancer, UniPay2U, and many others had previously emerged, allowing users to earn by watching ads, though those platforms eventually scammed their users as well. Aside from earning by watching ads, Ring ID also offered money for referring new users. To incentivize and attract more users, Ring ID integrated its community jobs into the MLM model.
Ring ID introduced three types of memberships for community jobs: Basic, Silver, and Gold. The company charged 2,000 BDT for basic membership, 12,000 BDT for silver, and 22,000 BDT for gold. Basic members could watch five ads daily, earning 25 BDT per day or 750 BDT per month, meaning they could recover their membership fee in just two and a half months. However, the silver and gold memberships were even more lucrative. Silver members could watch 50 ads daily, earning 250 BDT per day or 7,500 BDT per month, allowing them to recoup their investment in two months. Gold members, on the other hand, could watch 100 ads per day and earn 500 BDT daily, recovering their membership fee in just one and a half months. By creating these attractive membership tiers, Ring ID enticed young people in the country to invest more and more. But that wasn’t all—users couldn’t simply withdraw their earnings from watching ads. To withdraw money, they had to refer at least two new members. Additionally, there was a bonus for referring new members. Initially, direct withdrawals were allowed, but Ring ID eventually introduced another model alongside the existing membership system. This new model was called Ring ID Agent. To become an agent, the company offered three types: Silver, Gold, and Diamond. To become a Silver Agent, the fee was 1 lakh BDT, Gold Agent 2 lakh BDT, and Diamond Agent 3 lakh BDT. The responsibility of the agents was primarily to refer new members using referral codes. Moreover, when withdrawing funds, users had to do so through these agents.
From the very beginning, Ring ID tried to establish itself as a credible and large company by getting endorsements from various celebrities associated with Bangladeshi cricket. After Tawhid Afridi joined Ring Media as its CEO, his massive fan base, along with other young people in the country, became attracted to the app due to his promotions. Ring ID targeted a particular segment of youth who considered Tawhid Afridi an icon. His reach and lavish lifestyle were very appealing and attractive to them. Consequently, when Tawhid Afridi joined Ring Media as CEO, many young people thought that his lavish lifestyle was linked to Ring ID. This led them to trust the platform, and as Tawhid Afridi and other media celebrities continued to promote the app, people placed more faith in it. The social business of the app was run in the background as an MLM-based affiliate program, where people invested their money. The company used the money from new members to pay the old members, allowing the old members to withdraw their earnings.
As the old members started receiving money, more and more people became attracted to Ring ID through their recommendations. Content explaining how to earn by investing in Ring ID began increasing on YouTube and Facebook. From the unemployed to a large section of society, many in Bangladesh wanted to earn money online from the comfort of their homes. When people saw that by investing just a little money, they could easily earn 7,500 or 15,000 BDT monthly with minimal hassle, they were further encouraged to invest in Ring ID. In summary, Ring ID created a “Get Rich Quick” scheme that trapped hundreds of unemployed youth, who not only invested themselves but also brought their friends, family members, and relatives into the scheme. So many members were joining that Ring ID raised 212 crore BDT from membership sales between May and July 2021. In June alone, the platform collected 102 crore BDT from membership sales.
In September 2021, after various national newspapers began reporting about Ring ID’s Ponzi scheme, it came under the attention of law enforcement agencies. At the same time, Bangladesh’s e-commerce sector was going through a bad period, and Ring ID was somewhat overshadowed by this chaos. It is still difficult to determine the total amount of money that Ring ID scammed. However, according to The Business Standard (TBS), Ring ID had over 600,000 members and more than 6,000 agents across the country. Considering the membership charges of 12,000 BDT and 22,000 BDT, and agent charges ranging from 1 lakh BDT to 3 lakh BDT, it is quite possible that hundreds of thousands of people were scammed out of more than 1,000 crore BDT. On September 30, 2021, a case was filed, and one of the company’s directors, Saiful Islam, was arrested by the CID. During the investigation, the CID began probing allegations of a 302 crore BDT scam and 370 crore BDT money laundering by the company’s founders, Shariful Islam and Irene Islam, along with Shariful’s brother Saiful Islam. Additionally, the CID stated that Bangladesh Bank had frozen 200 crore BDT in various accounts of Ring ID. However, in April 2024, the CID filed a petition to dismiss the charges against the three accused, stating that they could not prove the allegations.
This was not the first time Ring ID’s founders were involved in legal trouble. In 2016, the CID arrested them in a case filed by BTRC. Before founding Ring ID, the couple successfully ran two call exchange companies named Cloud Tel Limited and Vision Tel Limited. BTRC had accused them of owing 240 crore BDT in unpaid license fees, profit shares, and late fees. A few months after the case, they were released on bail and used their Canadian passports to leave the country, where they settled permanently. Though Ring ID started as a social media app, how it transformed into an MLM-based Ponzi scheme remains unknown to everyone except the founders and those involved. In recent years, online fraud under the guise of easy income has become much more prevalent. Yet, despite this, new apps, including betting apps, continue to emerge, and many celebrities in the country are becoming brand ambassadors and promoting these apps. Seeing this, people also place their trust in these platforms, investing their money only to lose everything. Just as people in Bangladesh should not blindly trust products or services promoted by celebrities, celebrities should also be responsible and verify products or services before promoting them.
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