MPs fall victim to online scam

More than a dozen members of parliament, including senators and MNAs, have fallen victim to cyber fraud involving hundreds of thousands of rupees, online harassment and identity theft, a parliamentary panel was told on Tuesday.

The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) officials briefed lawmakers on a growing wave of online fraud targeting public representatives during a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Interior.

The panel was informed that more than a dozen senators and MNAs were defrauded, and money was extracted from several victims and identities were misused in others.

Some suspects have been arrested, while efforts are ongoing to trace others.

In a shocking revelation, NCCIA officials told the committee that Senator Falak Naz Chitrali received a call from a fraudster posing as the chief executive officer of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital, who managed to extract Rs485,000 from her.

The suspects in the case have since been arrested and the amount recovered.

Similarly, Senator Bilal Ahmed Mandokhail was also defrauded after scammers impersonated the governor, while Rs490,000 were fraudulently taken from Sahibzada Hamid Raza.

Senator Faisal Rehman, MNA Raja Khurram Nawaz and Naz Baloch were also subjected to online harassment and defamation.

In another case, a fake social media profile was created using the photograph of Deputy Chairman Senate Syedaal Khan, while Senator Palwasha was deceived under the pretext of online investment.

The NCCIA informed the committee that out of 11 reported cases, investigations were still underway in three, while in six cases suspects had been arrested and stolen money recovered.

Briefing the committee, NCCIA officer DIG Irfanullah said the agency had received 157,000 complaints, of which 6,029 cases were formally registered, while 65,431 complaints were converted into inquiries.

Commenting on the scale of the issue, the committee chairman observed that the volume of complaints indicated widespread fraud affecting the public.

DIG Irfanullah acknowledged that the agency was facing a severe shortage of manpower, revealing that NCCIA currently had only 523 personnel across the entire country.

Responding to the concern, the minister of state for interior said steps were being taken to strengthen the agency, including new recruitment, specialised training for staff and the establishment of 64 NCCIA police stations nationwide.

He said that despite limited staff, the agency was delivering encouraging results.

The interior minister also pointed to a broader enabling problem, stating that many individuals rent out their bank accounts, which are then used to funnel fraud proceeds.

Account holders receive small commissions, while the bulk of the money is retained by fraudsters. He said the government had written to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), urging it to strengthen banking security features to curb such practices.