Chinese Nationals Accused of Presenting Dhaka as India in Livestream Ads

Standing on Bangladeshi soil, Bangladesh is being shown as India.

A market for Indian products is being staged in front of the camera.

And that footage is being sold live in China.

Behind this novel digital fraud is a group of Chinese citizens, whose unrestricted roaming has Dhaka residents fearing for the loss of their privacy.

With smartphones in hand, from morning until night, a group of Chinese citizens roam Dhaka's backstreets like this.

As they film, they enter people's bedrooms and even their bathrooms.

But when approached to ask why they roam so freely, they say “No English” when confronted with a camera, then evade the question and climb straight into a rickshaw.

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But why all this secrecy? It has been reported that in Dhaka's Uttara 12 Sector and Tekpara areas, a group of Chinese nationals have been livestreaming like this every morning.

But behind these livestreams, an unusual digital scam is underway.

Their main targets in this scam are now local pharmacies.

They wouldn't sell this even for a thousand taka. They don't sell these.

They don't sell a single one in Bangladesh.

Then why did you keep this here? They keep it here, and make videos with it like this.

I don't know why it's here. I don't know.

This is soap. Soap. It's Indian soap. So, then there's this shampoo of yours.

There are some fixed products. They sell these products. They sell them online.

They advertise here. During the ads, orders are placed in their country.

Accordingly, they sell products from various companies.

They arrange these here, empty packets. Look, You see these? They arrange them like this.

They record videos, holding the phone up like this in front of the audience.

What's in this? Nothing. So, this is what they left at your pharmacy, or your— No, no, they didn't leave anything with us. They don't sell it.

They don't sell it, they only advertise it.

You keep it? Okay, they do a livestream.

So why did you keep this here? Why did I keep it? I mean, what do you mean, why?

Do you have some interest in it, or do they pay you?

Yes, yes. I mean, could you explain a little?

If they pay, then on the day you work, they'll give you five hundred taka for doing the livestream.

Per day? Per day. So that's why you keep this product.

I don't keep it. I mean, they livestream, then take it away again, they take it away, like that.

They don't sell these products. They don't sell them? They don't sell them, they don't sell them.

They don't sell them, they just livestream. They just livestream.

You're getting five hundred taka in return for that.

Don't you ever wonder why, for what reason, they're doing this?

They can't livestream in India. That's why they do it from Bangladesh, from Pakistan, from Nepal, from Bhutan.

They travel around to different countries and livestream.

When they livestream, does it show Bangladesh or India?

India. Five hundred taka for each livestream?

No, no, no. No. They get five hundred taka on days they work, and nothing on days they don't work, that sort of thing.

Do they understand Bengali? No. Then how do they communicate with them?

Through this translation. For five hundred taka a day, in front of the pharmacy, rows of packets are laid out of various Indian soaps, shampoos, and cosmetics.

Showing these packets, through WeChat to China, they're running booming livestream ads for the products.

We can see Chinese citizens have left quite a few boxes here.

It actually contains their products, and there are lots of details written here.

Maybe we can see a list of the products that are here I’d like to take a closer look at what products they brought here and what’s inside them.

The product I’m holding here actually looks like an Indian product, and on this product it says the price is 600 taka.

But there’s actually nothing inside this package.

The entire package is completely empty. The products in the packages are mainly Indian products, and in the livestreams Chinese citizens are doing on WeChat, they’re showing that this is India, not Bangladesh.

In their WeChat livestreams, they’re not just changing the name of the place, they’re portraying the Nirmoy area of Bangladesh in an extremely negative light to viewers.

On one hand, the country is being gravely insulted, and on the other, locals are fed up with the violation of their privacy.

Sister, do Chinese people come over this way?

Yes, they come. I mean, what do they usually say when they come?

What do they want to know, or what do they show?

On the street, I think I know what they say.

They say it so many times. We don't understand.

I only see them filming videos and talking.

At homes, their doors are open, so they just walk in.

They come in without asking and film them with their phones.

There are lots of women there, They go in and film all this.

Now, if someone from here went to their country and filmed there, they wouldn't allow us to.

But now they come to our country and film, and our country's government takes no action.

Look, Chinese people are filming here. They go to this slum and always hand out papers and cigarettes.

Some people shout, "Hey, hey!" That's about it.

They're always doing this here. God only knows what they're doing.

They go inside the homes and give money to both sides, then walk around the slum and film some more.

They go inside the houses. What do they do?

They go and film. You know, they walk down the street and talk.

I mean, I don't understand what they're saying.

When people ask, they say in Bengali that we're advertising oil, something like that. Do they speak Bengali?

Yes, they don't speak Bengali. They put it in writing in Bengali.

For months, despite this fraud and misinformation targeting foreigners going on, the administration has taken no visible action.

On this matter, the officer in charge of Uttara West Police Station said they would speak with senior authorities and take prompt action.

This is embarrassing. If this has happened, we'll look into it.

We'll investigate this within the framework of the law.

We'll also speak with our more senior authorities, with those senior officers as well.

I hope a fruitful solution will come out of this. Thank you.

We'll also make more visible, uh, the— mobile surveillance. We'll increase it further.

A pharmacy in Bangladesh, Indian products' roosters, and buyers in China.

When will this ingenious digital fraud carried out in the names of three countries come to an end?

Baizid Sad, Bangla Vision, Dhaka.