Cyber Fraud in Bangladesh’s Digital Financial Ecosystem: Tracing Responsibility across Banks, Mobile Financial Services and End Users

Bangladesh’s rapidly expanding digital financial ecosystem—driven by mobile financial services (MFS), online banking and fintech innovation—has transformed economic participation and inclusion. Yet, this digital boom has also triggered an alarming rise in cyber fraud, exposing structural weaknesses in how responsibility is shared across institutions and users. Using the 2025 Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) OTP scam as a focal case, this paper examines cyber fraud not as an isolated technical or user-level issue, but as a systemic failure within a distributed network of accountability. It analyzes how gaps in authentication protocols, inadequate coordination between banks and telecom operators, and insufficient user awareness collectively enable exploitation. Drawing on publicly available data, regulatory frameworks and incident reports, the study proposes a multi-actor responsibility model to map how trust and accountability should be shared among banks, MFS providers, regulators and end users. The findings highlight the urgent need for integrated cyber governance—one that bridges institutional silos, enforces shared liability, and builds digital resilience across Bangladesh’s evolving financial landscape.

Cyber fraud, digital financial ecosystem, multi- actor accountability

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