22 Illegal Payment Platforms Put Digital Taka at Risk

Bangladesh’s booming digital-payment economy has come under a major regulatory alert as Bangladesh Bank has identified 22 unauthorised online payment platforms operating illegally across the country and sought permanent blocking of their websites and apps.

The central bank has asked the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) to shut down the platforms and issued a stern warning to citizens, merchants and financial institutions against conducting transactions through them.

The crackdown comes at a time when digital financial fraud is already imposing a substantial cost on users. As many as 81,423 reported fraud cases involving mobile financial services (MFS), cheques and cards were recorded in 2025, involving Tk92.60 crore. Of the amount, Tk82.72 crore remained unrecovered.

The alarming fraud figures, combined with the emergence of an unregulated payment layer, have exposed a critical weakness in the country’s digital-finance transformation: money can move in seconds, but tracing and recovering it can take far longer-or may prove impossible, central bank officials said.

The 22 platforms identified by Bangladesh Bank are Bohudur Pay, ZiniPay, PayTiller, BengaliPay, Payora BD, SohojPay BD, EasyPay Way, AK Pay, BD PAY, Shajghar Pay, AsthaPay, UddoktaPay, Walletmix, BTTPay, EasyPay Automation, Unique Pay BD, BD AUTO Pay, RH Pay BD, EzePay, AutoPay Limited, Biswasto and PipraPay.

The platforms were detected through routine monitoring by Bangladesh Bank’s Payment Systems Supervision Department. Officials found that the unauthorised gateways were allegedly bypassing regulated commercial business accounts and routing transactions through personal MFS accounts.

The practice raises serious concerns over transaction transparency, customer protection and financial oversight, as personal wallets are not designed to serve as substitutes for regulated merchant-payment infrastructure.

The danger is compounded when an unauthorised platform displays familiar payment options. Several of the identified platforms reportedly facilitated payments through widely used services such as bKash, Nagad, Rocket, Bangla QR and banks.

This can give customers a misleading impression that the entire payment service is legitimate.

But a familiar payment logo does not make an intermediary a Bangladesh Bank-approved payment operator.

Under Section 4(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2024, operating a payment system or payment-aggregator service without Bangladesh Bank’s authorisation is prohibited. The central bank has warned that unauthorised operation constitutes an offence under Section 37(1), exposing offenders to criminal prosecution, fines and imprisonment.

For consumers and merchants, however, the most immediate danger is financial.

Licensed payment operators function under regulatory requirements covering transaction monitoring, settlement, risk management, customer protection and financial controls. Unauthorised platforms operate outside that framework.

If an unlicensed operator disappears, diverts funds, suffers a cyberattack or has its accounts frozen, users may have little practical protection or effective means of recovering their money.

The Bangladesh Cyber Security Intelligence (BCSI) has also detected suspicious financial activities involving dual-currency cards and Facebook Ad Manager, highlighting how cybercriminal networks can exploit the growing links between banking, cards, social media, digital advertising and online commerce.

The unauthorised payment platforms raise another major concern-Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT).

Licensed financial and payment institutions are required to maintain systems for customer identification, transaction monitoring, record-keeping and detection of suspicious financial activity. Unauthorised operators sit outside these safeguards, potentially making it easier for illicit funds to move through personal accounts and harder for regulators to identify their source and destination.

The consequences can therefore extend beyond individual fraud victims to the wider financial system, including risks of money laundering, illicit transfers and other financial crimes.

Bangladesh already has a regulated digital-payment architecture comprising Payment System Operators (PSOs), Payment Service Providers (PSPs) and Mobile Financial Services (MFS).

Licensed PSOs include SSLCommerz, ShurjoPay, PayStation, PortWallet, DGepay and Moneybag, while authorised PSPs include iPay, D Money, Recursion FinTech, Green & Red Technologies and Progoti Systems. Regulated MFS providers include bKash, Nagad, Rocket and Upay, among others.

The central bank’s action against the 22 platforms therefore represents more than the closure of a list of websites and apps. It is a warning that Bangladesh’s digital-payment revolution cannot be allowed to develop a parallel grey market in financial transactions.

The challenge is becoming more urgent as consumers increasingly shift from cash to mobile wallets, cards, online banking and digital commerce. For customers, the lesson is simple: being online does not mean being authorised.

For merchants, routing payments through an unlicensed intermediary can expose their money, customer information and reputation to potentially serious financial and legal risks.

Bangladesh’s digital-payment revolution is gathering unprecedented momentum. But its future will depend not merely on how quickly money can move, but on whether **every digital taka is traceable, protected and accountable from the moment it enters the system until it reaches its legitimate destination.