The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has arrested 12 members of a cybercrime gang accused of hacking data belonging to multiple foreign embassies in Pakistan, including those of Saudi Arabia, Germany and Italy.
Director NCCIA Punjab Ali Waseem announced the arrests during a press conference in Lahore on Tuesday, stating that the gang had illegally accessed embassy phone numbers and diverted them to numbers under their control.
According to officials, the diplomatic missions had formally alerted the NCCIA about the breach, prompting an investigation that led to the recovery of fake appointment letters, mobile phones and other digital evidence from the accused. Officials said the gang had been active since 2019, targeting both Pakistani and foreign citizens.
Investigators found that the group had recruited language experts to carry out its operations and had built fabricated embassy environments along with fake websites to deceive victims. A Singapore Police uniform was also recovered during the raids, officials said. Law enforcement agencies are conducting further raids to apprehend other members connected to the network.
Separately, the NCCIA disclosed the arrest of another gang linked to a hacking application called Tycoon 2FA, which officials said had been sold 66,000 times. The app compromises mobile devices once a user clicks on its malicious link.
Officials confirmed that the Singapore government had lodged a formal complaint with Pakistani authorities regarding the matter. Ali Waseem added that a joint task force comprising all relevant stakeholders is being formed to take action against fake call centres operating in the country.
