International online investment scam busted | The Express Tribune

KARACHI:

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Unit (NCCIA) Karachi has dismantled an organised international fraud network in an intelligence-based operation, arresting 15 foreign nationals and 19 Pakistanis involved in large-scale online investment scams.

The group allegedly targeted victims through social media, winning their trust over weeks and months before luring them with false promises of high returns from cryptocurrency and forex trading.

The development was disclosed by Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar at a press conference on Thursday, alongside NCCIA Sindh head Tariq Nawaz. He said the arrests were made during coordinated raids in DHA Phase I and Phase VI, adding that among the foreign suspects were 12 men and three women.

According to the home minister, the suspects persuaded victims to open accounts on fake investment platforms, which appeared credible due to scripted conversations and activity generated by automated bots in Telegram groups.

The groups were fully controlled and managed by the fraudsters themselves. Victims were shown fabricated online dashboards posing as legitimate investment portals, where fake profits were periodically displayed to reinforce trust and encourage further investment.

Lanjar said the operation also led to the recovery of over 10,000 foreign SIM cards, along with six illegal gateway exchange setups, which were used to create fake social media and Telegram accounts.

The SIMs were primarily used to receive PIN and OTP codes during Telegram account verification and, when required, for contact through WhatsApp. The aim was to artificially inflate group membership and activity to make the schemes appear authentic.

He said technical and financial investigations had uncovered additional leads that were still being probed.

The fraud network’s operations included creating and managing Telegram accounts, groups and social media profiles using foreign SIMs, persuading victims to invest through Telegram groups, funnelling funds into bank accounts in targeted countries, converting the money into cryptocurrency and transferring it across borders to the principal beneficiaries.

Items seized from the suspects included 37 computers, 40 mobile phones, more than 10,000 international SIM cards, and six illegal gateway exchanges.

The home minister said NCCIA Sindh, under the leadership of Tariq Nawaz, was actively pursuing cybercrime cases across the province.

He added that the operation stemmed from a raid conducted on December 18 at a call centre, following numerous complaints of fraud. Without naming them, he said the foreign nationals arrested belonged to several friendly countries, adding that criminal activity should not be used to malign any country.

He said the suspects had been defrauding people both within Pakistan and abroad, with transactions estimated at around $60 million.

Lanjar further revealed that authorities had also received complaints about drug use within the call centres, and said monitoring of other illegal call centres was ongoing.