A judicial magistrate on Monday extended physical remand of five suspects and sent 21 others to jail on judicial remand in a case pertaining to alleged theft of confidential financial data of foreign nationals through spoofed calls and impersonation.
The 26 suspects were arrested by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) during a raid on an illegal call centre in Gulshan-e-Iqbal last week.
The investigation officer produced the suspects before Judicial Magistrate (East) Gulraiz Memon upon the completion of their physical remand and sought further extension in their custody for completion of the investigation.
However, the magistrate extended physical remand of the five suspects for two days and sent the rest to jail on judicial remand. According to the FIR, the NCCIA team conducted a raid at an office in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-4 in connection with arrest of absconders. After initial interrogation of people working there and technical analysis of the seized digital devices, it transpired that they were allegedly involved in fraudulent activities by making spoofed calls.
The NCCIA said the suspects “impersonated themselves as representatives of various US-based banks and debt resolution/settlement agencies etc. with the intent to carry out fraudulent and illegal transfers of funds by obtaining personal and sensitive information for wrongful gain.”
The interrogation of suspects further revealed that the suspects manipulated foreign nationals through carefully prepared scripts and rebuttals designed to deceive them to gain their trust, it added. The NCCIA said its team also recovered unauthorised confidential and personal data belonging to foreign nationals from the seized devices.
