A judicial magistrate on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to 26 suspects 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 suspects through their lawyers had moved applications before Judicial Magistrate (East) Gulraiz Memon seeking post-arrest bail. After hearing both the prosecution and defence sides, the magistrate granted them bail subject to the submission of a surety of Rs50,000 each.
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.
