NCCIA warns youth against joining illegal call centres for lucrative salaries

Islamabad: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) issued a warning on Saturday about illegal call centers, online betting operations and international fraud networks exploiting weak system loopholes to launder money and ensnare victims. NCCIA Additional Director Muhammad Shoaib Khan addressed a press conference, highlighting the registration of fake companies with poor verification, integration of their bank accounts into loan apps, betting portals and gaming sites to receive and transfer illicit funds.

Khan urged stricter regulations on company registration and bank account verification. The press conference aimed to dissuade young professionals from joining illegal call centers in the pursuit of high salaries, urging job seekers to inquire about the company's registration and encouraging parents to monitor their children's employment status.

Khan cautioned that failure to do so could result in their arrest and a detrimental record if they ever needed a character certificate or applied for government employment. He explained that bank accounts, linked to these suspicious companies, facilitated the transfer of illicit funds. The NCCIA team is collaborating with relevant institutions to enhance their checking systems.

Khan emphasized that the agency had previously raised the issue at the policy level and would continue to address cases involving one-person companies or similar entities whose bank accounts were misused in this manner. The NCCIA revealed that they had identified each individual involved in the operations, including the methods used, their roles, and the extent of their involvement.

Two call centers in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Zone were raided recently, with 11 people, including 10 women, arrested in Rawalpindi and 143, including 43 women, apprehended in Islamabad. Khan detailed the modus operandi of the latest raids, noting that the centers operated differently. In Rawalpindi, an elaborate setup, posing as the police, was created, offering loans and later scamming victims upon loan recovery or trapping.

In Islamabad, the operation involved trapping victims, obtaining access to their phone gallery, and blackmailing them with fabricated pornographic content or threats of exposure, leading to financial extortion.