Cyber criminals preying on unsuspecting suburbs

Network of criminals has spread its net in several areas; 13 suspects arrested

LAHORE: In the race to become rich overnight, cyber fraudsters are depriving people of their life savings throughout Lahore. The province is filled with con artists who either trick people into thinking they had been selected for a reward from the Benazir Income Support Programme or that a generous relative has sent money from abroad.

The common theme in all these cases is that the victims are tricked into divulging bank account details. In other cases, unsuspecting locals are duped into thinking that their credit card codes have changed or that they are speaking to a representative of the Pakistan Army who is warning them of suspicious account activity.

These messages and phone calls have deprived people of millions of rupees. The FIA have arrested 13 people from such groups in recent times, while also recovering the latest laptops and software from their possession.

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Lahore FIA Deputy Director Cyber Crime Chaudhry Muhammad Sarfraz confirms the authority has been receiving complaints from hundreds of people, narrating that callers posing as army officials, bank employees or representatives of the Benazir Income Support Programme have been bugging them.

He reveals FIA has conducted numerous raids in Lahore, Pattoki, Sahiwal, Silanawali and Sargodha based on the data collected through phone numbers from which the calls were made. “Dozens of ID cards and credit cards of different banks/companies, along with software, were seized from the possession of culprits,” he adds.

He says the latest software has been used to gather complete information of the person whose CNIC or mobile number is entered. “It also provides information about the bank transactions that how much money has been taken out from the ATM or through cheques. The deputy director continues that software can lay out a lot of information about foreign transfers by family members via money exchange or any other means. On the basis of the available details, scammers defraud people.

Some scammers have such an advanced level of skill that they are able to steal data from banks and mobile phone companies, all of whom are unable to detect that their information has been stolen for use in an organized crime. By the time they learn of the embezzlement, traces of the scammers are long gone.

FIA Cyber Crime Wing arrested suspects identified as Ali Sher, Munir, Habibullah, Qasim, Ramadan, Sajid, Moin, Amir, Abrar, Asif, Munir aka Mano and Asif. According to the authority, the scamming groups belong to Vehari, Siyal, Sargodha, Sheikhupura, Farooq Abad, Jhelum, Nankana Sahib, Jhang, Faisalabad and Sillanwali.

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Their network includes a large number of women who are the first to make phone calls. Some of these women and men know English, Arabic, Persian, Pashto, Balochi, and Sindhi languages. The perpetrators use their multilingual skills to rob people with a degree of finesse.

Cybercrime wing records suggest that more than 400 or 500 people are involved in suburban cities who ditch people in groups. Those con artists with more advanced methods at their disposal use money exchange as a tool to deceive people overseas. The cybercrime wing believes that these groups support each other by providing the required data, if needed.

As many as 53 people, guilty of this crime, have been arrested over the last year who have cheated and scammed people in millions of rupees. FIA officials have expressed their dismay over facing serious problems during raids as teams are attacked by irate women and children.

They say three to four culprits have managed to escape the scene on some occasions. Raids are usually conducted at night and this also benefits the suspects who are able to escape under the cover of darkness. In addition, the network of scammers has its own power base and the FIA must conduct operations against culprits with the help of other law enforcement agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2019.