The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) is actively cracking down on cybercrime across major cities in Pakistan. Recently, SP Atif Ameer led several major operations. He serves as the Additional Director of the Lahore Zone for the agency. During these recent raids, authorities busted multiple illegal call centers and organized cybercrime rings. Furthermore, his team successfully arrested a suspect involved in a massive $126 million US postage stamp fraud.
Following these major crackdowns, Atif Ameer held a press conference to clarify industry regulations. Specifically, he outlined the exact conditions necessary for a call center to be deemed legal.
Operating a legitimate call center requires strict regulatory compliance. Consequently, businesses must secure approvals from three major government bodies. Atif Ameer detailed the following mandatory conditions:
- The call center must hold an active registration with the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
- The business must secure a formal registration from the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB).
- The company must maintain proper registration with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
Registrations Cannot Cover Fraud
However, fulfilling these three conditions does not give a company a free pass. Atif Ameer warned that these registrations are not the only constraints. Sometimes, call centers secure complete legal registrations for a specific business purpose. Yet, they abandon their primary registered objective to conduct illegal activities.
To illustrate this problem, the Additional Director provided a shocking example from a recent raid. The NCCIA recently busted a large call center employing 200 people. The company had successfully completed all required SECP, PSEB, and FBR registrations. Officially, they registered the business to handle medical billing. However, the employees completely ignored medical billing. Instead, they used the facility purely for scamming and organized fraud.
Ultimately, authorities will monitor call centers closely to ensure they perform the exact legal services they originally registered for.
