KARACHI: The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on Sunday claimed to have arrested more than 70 people in two raids on as many call centres in PECHS for allegedly targeting citizens of the United States through fraudulent schemes involving offers for new credit cards and low-interest financial services.

According to a spokesperson for the NCCIA, the two premises raided were being operated by one organisation.

The agency registered two cases and nominated as many as 79 individuals — 48 in one case and 31 in the second one — for “committing offences” under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) and the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

“The call centres were operated in residential areas, making it difficult to identify that operations were being conducted from the premises,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Agency lodges two FIRs; alleges owners and call agents targeted US citizens with fraudulent credit card offers

It said a significant breakthrough during the operation was the seizure of a live, operational and specially designed Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system being used by the organisation.

“The CRM was actively used to maintain, manage and record detailed information relating to US-based customers allegedly targeted through the fraudulent schemes,” the statement said.

“The system and associated digital infrastructure are expected to provide important digital evidence relating to the network, customer database, operational hierarchy and alleged modus operandi of the organisation,” the statement said.

It added that the seized computers, CRM, data and other digital evidence had been secured and were being subjected to forensic examination.

According to the FIRs, “...interrogation reveals that the agents obtained Social Security Numbers, mobile phone numbers, dates of births, and bank and credit card credentials by falsely representing themselves as authorised representatives of regulated financial institutions of the United States of America. These details were then shared to the owners of the call centre, through the local server-based CRM, who further shared the same with merchants managed by their partners for the purpose of effecting unauthorised charges.”

The NCCIA spokesperson said that the forensic examination of the seized CRM and other digital devices was expected to assist investigators in identifying the broader network, customer targeting mechanism, financial channels, operational structure and other individuals who may be connected with the alleged cyber-enabled fraud.

The suspects have been booked in FIRs registered under Sections 3 (unauthorised access to information system or data), 4 (unauthorised copying or transmission of data), 6 (unauthorised access to critical infrastructure information system or data), 13 (electronic forgery), 14 (electronic fraud), 16 (unauthorised use of identity information) and 26 (spoofing) of Peca and 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC at the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre police station on the complaint of Inspector Muhammad Ali of the NCCIA.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2026