FIA imposter scams citizens of millions

A man allegedly swindled millions of rupees from several citizens on Facebook while posing himself to be an officer of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

When a victim approached the FIA Cyber Crime Cell Rawalpindi to seek justice, the authorities received the application and asked the complainant to arrest the accused himself. The victims have been waiting for justice for two months and now have appealed to the prime minister, interior minister and FIA DG for intervention.

According to FIA additional director, a resident of Misrial Road reported the fraud to the Cybercrime Cell Rawalpindi. “I have been subjected to visa fraud. About 10 months ago, Ghulam Abbas contacted me on Facebook, who posed as an FIA officer and promised to help me seek justice. He also took Rs46,000 from me to extract data on the fraudsters. He said a team would visit from Lahore and money was needed for its expenses. Meanwhile, he demanded more money, promising to send me to Kuwait for work, for which I paid an additional Rs280,000.”

Ismail further stated that Abbas claimed that there were some vacancies of muezzin and prayer leaders within the FIA. “I believed him and I referred 10 friends who collectively paid Rs1.5 million. He also issued fake appointment letters and medical slips from the FIA before disappearing.”

The applicant, Muhammad Ismail, told The Express Tribune that when he reported the fraud on April 24, the authorities of FIA Cyber Crime Cell Rawalpindi said that they would conduct an inquiry, however, after some time, the authorities said that the person who committed the fraud should be caught and brought here, they would take legal action.

Meanwhile, The Express Tribune contacted the senior officer of FIA Cyber Crime Cell Rawalpindi for comment, but no response was received by the time the report was filed.