Schoolchildren's photos taken for face verification: Rises concern about data smuggle?

A secluded area. Bamboo groves and trees all around, with hardly any people in sight. The Karatoya River lies about half a kilometre to the east. A village is roughly half a kilometre to the south, while another is about a kilometre to the north. In between is a quiet path leading toward agricultural fields.

Beside the path stands an abandoned poultry farm. From the outside, it appears to have been unused for a long time. The farm is located in the Rahimabad area of Shajahanpur upazila in Bogura.

Local farmers say schoolchildren wearing uniforms have been coming and going from the farm almost every day for the past several months.

On Monday morning (September 21), nine students of Mahipur Colony Government Primary School in Sherpur upazila, Bogura, were allegedly taken to the abandoned farm and kept there. Some of the students’ guardians later went to the farm and brought them back. That night, the father of one of the students filed a written complaint with Sherpur Police Station, naming five people and identifying another four to five as unnamed accused.

An on-the-ground investigation found that the incident on September 21 was not an isolated occurrence. Students had allegedly been brought to the farm for around three months. People of different ages, including schoolchildren, were reportedly taken there, where short videos were recorded and their faces were photographed for what was described as “face verification.”

According to those involved, the students were paid between Tk 100 and Tk 250 for participating. The people who brought them to the location reportedly received Tk 500 per person and paid the students from that amount.

The abandoned poultry farm in Rahimabad has very few nearby houses. Local farmers pass by the site while travelling to and from their fields.

Several farmers said they regularly see schoolchildren in uniforms arriving at the farm in the afternoon. They usually come in groups and leave after staying for around one and a half to two hours.

Ariful Islam, a resident of Bamunia Mondolpara village in Shajahanpur, said he has seen students being taken to the farm almost every afternoon.

Shahinul Islam, a farmer from Katabaria Madhyapara village in the same upazila, said he regularly sees schoolchildren in uniforms at the farm. He said he had not noticed any female students there. Most of the students he saw appeared to be between 12 and 13 years old.

According to the complaint, the nine students were taken from Mahipur Colony Government Primary School on the morning of September 21 and later brought to the abandoned farm in Rahimabad. When some of them attempted to leave, they were allegedly threatened with having their legs cut.

The complaint further alleges that the students were photographed and subjected to face verification at the site. Several guardians later went there and took the children home.

One of those named in the complaint is Ashik Ahmed, a 10th-grade student of Mahipur Colony High School.

Speaking to Ashik revealed that September 21 was not the first time he had taken students to the farm.

Ashik said that 10 to 12 days before the incident, he had taken another eight students there. According to him, Sabbir, a resident of Rahimabad in Shajahanpur, would ask him to bring students to the site, and Ashik was paid for doing so.

Ashik said short videos were recorded and face verification was conducted on people of different ages, including students. Sabbir paid him for the work, and some of that money was later given to the students.

Ashik also said that around two months ago, a friend first took him to the location. After that, he began taking other students there.

Attempts to speak with two other accused teenagers, Motaleb and Hasan Mahmud, were unsuccessful as they avoided discussing the matter. It was learned, however, that they too had allegedly been recruited through Sabbir.

Local farmers said Sabbir had rented the abandoned poultry farm from its owner. He reportedly took the farm on lease about a year ago. Although chickens were brought there several times, the farm was later left unused.

Over the past three months, however, locals have noticed people of different ages, including schoolchildren, visiting the site.

Contacted about the matter, Sabbir Hasan Rakib acknowledged that he had been conducting face verification of students and people of different ages through an app for around three months.

Sabbir claimed that he receives between Tk 800 and Tk 900 for each face verification. Those who bring people to the location are reportedly paid Tk 500 for each person.

Asked what the face verification is used for, Sabbir said accounts are opened online through an app called “BigPay” after completing face verification. He claimed that the accounts are then used to make online purchases from outside Bangladesh.

Sabbir said he came across advertisements for the work online and subsequently started doing it. People of different ages are brought to him for face verification, he said, and he receives payment in dollars for the service.

Asked about the allegations, Sherpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge SM Moinuddin said the matter was being treated seriously. “We are investigating the incident and trying to identify those involved in the alleged offence,” he said.

Bogura-based IT expert Millat Chowdhury said biometric information of this type is being traded on the deep and dark web. He said such data could potentially be misused for crimes involving forged passports, driving licences and other fraudulent activities. If the children’s biometric information were to fall into the hands of cybercriminals, he warned, they could face significant risks.