LAHORE:Punjab National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) Tuesday arrested 12 members of an organised international cyberfraud network accused of impersonating foreign embassies and defrauding citizens through fake visa, immigration and diplomatic service schemes.
According to the NCCIA spokesperson, the group had been active since 2019 and allegedly used the identities of the embassies of Italy, Germany, Sweden, Oman and Saudi Arabia, among others, to deceive citizens and obtain millions of rupees through fraudulent visa appointments, immigration processing and document verification services. Investigators said the suspects created fake Google business profiles, fraudulent web pages and forged official-looking documents. They would conduct video calls while wearing Singapore Police uniforms to intimidate victims. During a raid conducted in Rawalpindi, the agency arrested all 12 suspects from a fake call centre. Recovered items included 21 mobile phones, a car, a Singapore Police uniform, fake Google business profiles, phishing emails, forged appointment letters, PTCL records, multiple Gmail accounts and other digital evidence, which had been taken into custody for forensic analysis.
Meanwhile, NCCIA also busted a global cyber fraud syndicate involved in large-scale online financial scams targeting citizens in Pakistan and several other countries, arresting two of its key members.
According to the NCCIA spokesperson, the operation exposed a cybercrime network that used sophisticated phishing infrastructure, fake digital platforms and advanced cyber technologies to steal victims' banking credentials, social media accounts, one-time passwords (OTPs) and other sensitive digital information before carrying out financial fraud worth millions of rupees.
Initial investigations revealed that the suspects had developed an advanced phishing infrastructure known as Tycoon2FA, through which they created more than 96,000 phishing applications, fake accounts and fraudulent links. The infrastructure was allegedly supplied to cybercriminals operating in Pakistan as well as North America, South America, Central Asia and Europe to facilitate large-scale online financial fraud.
