The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) arrested 47 suspects on Wednesday in a raid on an illegal call centre on Sharea Faisal, Karachi, accused of defrauding foreign nationals. A court later remanded all of them in NCCIA custody for three days.
The centre was located on the fourth floor of Technology Park. According to an NCCIA statement, the suspects allegedly obtained banking information from foreign nationals through deceptive calls and then misused their financial data.
Five more suspects remain absconding. A case has been registered against all 52 suspects under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act.
During the search and seizure operation, the agency recovered 50 laptops, 26 mobile phones, one desktop computer, other digital devices and miscellaneous documents.
Investigating officer Ameer Ali presented the 47 suspects in the spoofing and credit card data theft case before Judicial Magistrate (East) Gulraiz Memon. He sought 14 days of custody for further questioning.
In the remand paper, he stated that custody was required to establish the modus operandi, operational structure, financial channels and digital infrastructure used in the offences. After hearing the investigating officer, the court granted NCCIA custody for three days.
In a separate case, the same court sent 12 suspects to prison on judicial remand. They are accused of creating explicit animations featuring child characters and selling them to foreign clients.
