The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) conducted a successful raid last night on an illegal call centre in Islamabad and arrested five foreign nationals, according to a press release issued on Monday.
The NCCIA press release stated that more than 60 people were working at the call centre, of which five foreign nationals were arrested during the raid.
“In addition to these arrests, the NCCIA will take further legal action against those who provided facilities and security to these individuals,” the statement said.
A spokesperson reiterated the agency’s resolve to continue its operations against all such illegal activities that amount to a violation of the country’s laws.
A first information report (FIR) was registered on Sunday by complainant Aamir Azeem Abbasi regarding a “task-based scam resulting in financial loss”.
According to the FIR, a reliable source informed that a criminal gang was operating a call centre located in Sardar Plaza, G-10 Markaz, Islamabad.
An inquiry concluded that the call centre activities were carried out “with active connivance of each other by impersonating as representatives of a fake and dubious online earning company.”
The FIR further stated “ulterior motives to extort money, contact persons of different nationalities and lure them into a dubious easy-money-making scheme.”
Equipment used in the execution of the digital scam was found and taken into possession by NCCIA Islamabad.
“The accused persons could not present any lawful justification” and confessed to working as a gang to perform electronic fraud via extortion and impersonation.“
The gang used internet downloaded and AI-generated photos and fake personas to “initiate conversations with isolated or vulnerable individuals through social media such as Facebook, Telegram and WhatsApp through victim hunting.”
The operation, per the FIR, was a multi-tier set-up consisting of scammers that chat with victims initially, Telegram receptionists who receive collated information on the victims to lure them in for more advanced tasks, finance managers, who managed crypto accounts for receiving fraudulent funds generated via local and international scams, and “killers”, who reside in foreign countries like Cambodia and empty victims’ bank accounts under the pretext of online earning.
The FIR concluded that the accused gang extorted “huge amounts of money from local Pakistani as well as international victims by accessing their confidential information and misusing such data for extorting money. This fraudulent money is layered via cryptocurrency wallets.”
The raid follows a similar incident last week where the NCCIA claimed to have arrested 149 persons, including 48 Chinese and nationals of some other countries, for their alleged involvement in online fraud during a raid on a factory in Faisalabad.
Days after the arrest, a Faisalabad special court allowed a five-day physical remand of 87 suspects, including 18 women, allegedly involved in various cybercrimes, and sent 62 others to the district jail on a 14-day judicial remand, on the request of the NCCIA.
Last month, 18 suspects believed to be involved in a high-profile online scam were arrested and produced before a Karachi court. A judicial magistrate remanded them into the custody of the NCCIA for interrogation.
In May, the NCCIA, in coordination with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Dutch police, arrested 21 suspects involved in cybercrime operations and digital fraud worth millions of dollars in Multan and Lahore.
