Karachi, Nov 6 (PTI) Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has intensified raids on illegal call centres in Karachi that allegedly scam unsuspecting people through credit card fraud and Ponzi schemes, arresting 273 workers and operators in a major operation this week.
Dr Shahzad Akbar, Additional Director of the NCCIA in Karachi, told PTI on Friday that the raids followed complaints from defrauded foreign nationals and people in Pakistan.
“We also have our own local sources to carry out these raids,” he said.
In the last few weeks, the agency has raided a number of illegal call centres, including the one this week in which 273 workers and operators were arrested.
“The illegal call centres offer Ponzi schemes and special credit card offers while impersonating officials of banks and financial institutions,” Akbar said, adding that they primarily target foreign nationals in other countries.
The company raided this week had faced legal action twice earlier but had returned to its alleged fraudulent activities, he said.
Akbar said the call centres were able to operate efficiently partly because of the large number of educated but unemployed youths seeking jobs.
“We have identified some 300 to 350 centres in Karachi involved in scamming people,” he added.
Tracing the centres was difficult as many operated from residential properties and even mobile units, the official said.
Even after raids, several workers claimed they were not involved in illegal activities and had merely followed instructions from their employers, he said.
“It is not easy to prosecute the workers who have the IT skills as they easily switch centres or even work independently and fraudulently obtain information from unsuspecting clients,” Akbar said.
The raid this week was a major operation in which hundreds of laptops and mobile phones were seized, he said.
The devices were allegedly used by operators to obtain credit card information and pass it on to merchants linked to companies registered in the United States, where unauthorised transactions could be processed, Akbar said.
He also disclosed that some workers at the call centres were below 18 years of age.
Judicial Magistrate East Gulraiz Memon on Thursday granted bail to 98 women and two juvenile boys arrested during the raid, against surety bonds of PKR 5,000 each.
The court directed age verification for the juvenile suspects.
Nine persons who own the company were remanded in NCCIA custody for two days, while the remaining suspects were sent to prison on judicial remand, the report said. PTI CORR SCY SCY
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