The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has received a total of 10,386 cybercrime complaints over the past 53 days, according to official figures. The agency has registered 6,672 inquiries from those complaints and filed 442 cases so far.
Authorities have arrested 1,749 suspects in operations against cybercrime and recovered more than Rs149.8 million in various actions.
Cyber patrolling and web link blocking
The Cyber Patrolling Unit completed technical analysis of 4,530 URLs. It referred 1,186 illegal web links to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) so they could be blocked.
Also read: PTA denies TikTok ban in Pakistan, calls notification fake
Crackdown on illegal call centres in Karachi
Authorities carried out 59 raids in different areas, which led to 43 cases being registered. A total of 973 suspects allegedly involved in illegal call centre operations were arrested, and law enforcers seized 15,502 various items during the raids.
In the same crackdown, 211 foreign nationals were arrested. Additional Director Shahzad Akbar earlier said around 300 to 350 skimming and scam call centres were operating in Karachi, and that the NCCIA had decided not to give any concession to those involved.
He added that the agency had taken action against one of three major companies in the sector, which had also faced action in the past.
Fraud targeting young people, retirees and cardholders
An NCCIA official said young people who should be in education were being employed in these centres, while local residents and retired people had also been targeted. Shahzad Akbar said 329 laptops had been seized, each containing fake IDs and credit card details.
He said card holders were being deceived through different offers, and their accounts were emptied through fraudulent schemes.
