FIA arrests four in fraudulent taxi service case in Lahore

Accused accumulated Rs2 million by charging more than double the fare

LAHORE: The Lahore FIA Cyber Crime Wing conducted raids and arrested four people, including the ring leader of a group involved in looting citizens through a bogus online taxi hiring system. The group has accumulated Rs2 to Rs2.5 million by receiving more than double the fare from hundreds of citizens.



Lahore FIA Cyber Crime Wing received information that some of the employees of the online taxi service are looting people through a mock GPRS system. As soon as a passenger books a car under this taxi service, the captain of the car immediately turns on the system which allows a distance travelled of 10km to show as between 20km and 30km. Subsequently, the same system will increase the fare too and passengers are forced to pay the increased amount.

Lahore Cyber Crime Wing Deputy Director Mohammad Usman formed a team which conducted raids in Muslim Town in Gulberg and Johar Town. Four people, including Ahmed Raza, Abdul Moiz, Bilal and Mohsin, were taken into custody.

Officer Ashir said Bilal and Mohsin were employees of the online taxi service. They, along with Ahmed Raza and Abdul Moiz, had been looting people for several months.

The employees also reopen IDs blocked by the company. To reopen the IDs, they changed the car or CNIC numbers of the blocked IDs in the software.



The data of the bogus system, received by the Cyber Crime Wing, suggested that so this group has accumulated more than Rs2 to 2.5 million through this fraudulent activity. The actual amount will be revealed after the completion of investigations.

The FIA has also sought the record of IDs blocked by the online taxi service to reveal how many of them were reopened.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 12^th, 2019.