Success and failure stories

1,400 taka a month per lakh, two and a half crore taken in, and the secretary gone

A cooperative society formed in Bagerhat in 2015 took in about 2.5 crore taka on a promise of 1,400 taka a month per lakh; its secretary vanished in April 2022, with roughly 70 lakh still out on loan.

Started in 2015

Land bought for 7.26 lakh registered in his own name, and the deed writer loses his licence

A deed writer in Tarash, Sirajganj, registered a 1.5-bigha plot bought for 726,000 taka in his own name instead of the buyer's; his licence was cancelled once the complaint was substantiated.

The platform shuts, and a small agent's 22 lakh taka of tickets is stuck

When an online travel agency shut down in August 2025, one small agency was left with 22 lakh taka of tickets bought in advance; a Motijheel police case alleges 4 crore and 79 thousand taka taken from 17 agents.

The receipts were real, the deposits were not: an outlet locked and abandoned

The operator of an agent banking outlet in Raipura, Narsingdi, never passed customers' deposits to the main branch and disappeared on 21 January 2024 with at least 10 crore taka.

A promise of 1,100 taka per lakh, and an agent gone with over a crore

An agent banking outlet in Nikli, Kishoreganj, took more than a crore taka from over a hundred customers on a promise of 1,100 taka per lakh - 11 per cent - and the agent fled in February 2024.

Twelve years on the tools, and 1.5 lakh taka of wages never paid

A mason who worked twelve years in Dhaka was never paid about 1.5 lakh taka of his wages; another lost 90,000 over ten years, and one contractor left 30 workers stranded together.

Started in 2007

A decade-old print works sold at a loss, 45 workers down to 17

A ten-year-old screen printing works in Mirpur that printed cloth for export garment factories was sold at a loss in November 2020 as orders fell away; the new owner has no work either and has kept 17 of the 45 staff.

A month without a single guest and seven staff let go, once the ships stopped

Tourist ships on the Teknaf-Saint Martin's route stopped from 16 November, in the middle of the season. This hotel had no guest in a month and laid off seven staff; all 36 residential hotels and 40 cottages and bungalows on the island closed.

From 1,500-2,000 taka a day to 600, with the rest of the day in the gas queue

After a fire at the floating LNG terminal off Maheshkhali, gas supply in Chattogram broke down. Refuelling that once took 20-30 minutes now means four to six hours in a queue, and one driver's daily takings fell from 1,500-2,000 taka to 600.

Three weddings booked, then everything stopped, with the capital locked in a rented office

He set up an event management business after graduating and rented a furnished office near his home. Three weddings were booked when COVID-19 stopped everything, and his savings and borrowings are now tied up in a business with no work.

The same two mandaps, but the work fell from 60,000 taka to 20,000

Last year each puja mandap meant about 60,000 taka of work; this year it came to about 20,000. The same two bookings, but no chairs, tables or fans were needed.

The furniture was sold to pay the rent, and the school closed anyway: 16 jobs gone

She kept the school alive for about a year after the closures. With no fees coming in, the furniture was sold to cover the building rent; the school shut anyway and its 16 teachers and staff lost their work.