Dilruba’s Story

Dilruba is a 23 year old woman who lives in Dhaka city, where she works as a housemaid. She and her husband, a day labourer, have two children and share a smartphone and DFS account. They previously used this account to manage their finances, particularly for sending money to their village.

However, they lost the SIM card associated with the account about five months ago, and since then, they have been unable to access the account. Recovering the SIM card would require time and documents, and they were also concerned about their old account’s higher cash-out charges (20 BDT per thousand). For these reasons, they decided to open a new account, which offers lower cash-out charges.

The manager of their building recommended an agent who operated from the ground floor to help Dilruba set up her new account. She followed the suggestion, bringing her phone and NID to the agent. The agent quickly opened the account and asked Dilruba to set a PIN. Feeling more comfortable having the agent handle it, she allowed him to set it for her, and he used the last five digits of her NID as the PIN.

After setting up the account, Dilruba wrote down the PIN on a piece of paper, which she now carries with her whenever she needs to cash out. For security reasons, she always entered the PIN herself at the agent’s shop. Over time, she has changed the PIN twice with the help of a trusted person. Before having the new account, Dilruba used to send money through agents, but now, with her own wallet, she handles transactions personally.