NCCIA detains 212 in Islamabad crackdown on illegal call centres

Profit reported that the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency has taken 212 people into custody during a crackdown on call centres in Islamabad. The detainees include Pakistani and Chinese nationals, and they are men and women alike. Raids conducted within 24 hours on three centres in sectors E-11 and G-10 also yielded 306 mobile phones, 383 computers and CPUs, and 299 laptops and monitors.

Early inquiries indicate the suspects contacted victims through dating applications, won their confidence, and then directed them to fake online task and investment schemes promising financial gains. The agency said the network carried out international financial fraud through Google-linked scams and dating-based schemes, and it had links to India and Brazil.

Separate NCCIA teams raided FFK Lodhi Call Center in G-10 Markaz and a second site on Street No. 40 near the Passport Office in G-10/4 on September 22. Officials took digital gear, electronic equipment and server records for forensic examination. Two cases were logged by the NCCIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad under PECA 2016 section 14 and Pakistan Penal Code sections 419, 420, 34 and 109, and inquiries continue into the scale of the fraud and other people possibly involved.