NCCIA arrests 212 individuals over alleged involvement in international fraud schemes

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) arrested 212 individuals across three call centers in Islamabad over the past day, according to the agency's spokesperson. The operation was part of a crackdown on illegal call centers to combat organized cyber fraud. The arrested individuals included Chinese and Pakistani men and women.

During the raids, 306 mobile phones, 383 computers/CPUs, and 299 monitors and laptops were seized. The suspects were allegedly involved in international fraud schemes, such as Google scams and "low-dating" schemes, with connections to India and Brazil. A case has been registered, and the investigation is ongoing. Last week, NCCIA arrested 27 suspects, including four Afghans, during a major operation in Karachi, dismantling an international scam call center where the perpetrators posed as authorized financial institution representatives and obtained personal and financial information via spoofed and fraudulent calls.

In August, 114 foreign nationals, including 111 Chinese and three Vietnamese citizens, were arrested for running a cyber-romance and sextortion network from an IT business in Islamabad. This network allegedly lured foreign nationals into explicit online conversations and exploited the material for criminal and financial gain.