Writer Umama Fatema responded to the recent extortion scandal in Gulshan by questioning the public's shocked reaction. “It’s amusing how everyone pretends to be surprised,” she said. “This is just the first time one of these guys got caught.” She shared a personal experience, identifying one of the accused—named Riyad—as having behaved aggressively toward her at Rupayan Tower in December. “When we tried to stop him, he turned on us,” she wrote. “After digging, I found multiple accusations already existed against him for threats and extortion. Sadly, people like him have long been embedded in elite circles.”