Bangladesh Bank (BB) has moved to take legal action against the persons and the institutions that are offering people illegal currency trading through internet and electronic trading portals.

In a statement last week, the central bank advised people not to involve in this illegal business and warned them of stern consequences for such activities.

The BB referred to some recent advertisements in the media that offered people training for earning high returns from online foreign exchange trading and dealing.

The BB said these advertisements also offered currency loading facility in debit cards to run the online foreign currency exchange business by taking the 'risks' of the 'daily fluctuation of exchange rates'.

The trading of its kind by unauthorised people and organisations is illegal. The Foreign Exchange Regulation Act allows only licensed dealers and money exchangers to run such business.

It advised people to refrain from responding to such tempting, but illegal offers and warned respective advertisers of punitive actions.

Most web-based foreign exchange transactions are carried out on a margining basis with huge leverage or on an investment basis, where the returns are based on currency trading, a BB official told the news agency.

People are advised to make the margin payment for these transactions through their credit or debit cards, which are not only illegal, but also involve high risk of losing their total credit or debit limit to unknown people.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in April last year issued similar warning against such business and cautioned people of the financial and legal risks of these activities.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 15th Jan 2012