NCCIA Karachi call centre raid: 273 arrested on Shahrah-e-Faisal, 42 minors
The NCCIA says it arrested 273 people, including over 100 women and 42 minors, at an alleged scam call centre on Shahrah-e-Faisal. What was seized.
The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) says it has arrested 273 people in a raid on an alleged scam call centre on Karachi’s Shahrah-e-Faisal, one of the biggest single swoops on a fraud call centre in the city.
NCCIA Additional Director Shahzad Akbar said those held included more than 100 women and 42 underage boys and girls. The agency alleges the centre targeted people abroad, using impersonation, identity theft and caller ID spoofing, which makes a call look like it comes from a bank or a government office.
What was found
According to the NCCIA, officers seized:
- 339 laptops
- 152 mobile phones
- 4 computer CPUs
Akbar said each laptop held different fake online identities. The business, near Baloch Colony Bridge, was operating under the name Voxtron Solutions, according to officials. The raid took place earlier this week; reports differ on whether it was on 3 or 4 November.
Court, sub-jail and protests
A Karachi court gave the NCCIA two days’ physical remand of nine suspects, the ones it says ran the operation. The others were sent on judicial remand, and the Sindh Home Department declared the call centre building itself a sub-jail to hold them. Women and juveniles were granted bail, according to reports from the hearing.
The numbers are disputed. The defence lawyer told the court there were more than 70 minors and over 80 women among those arrested, different from the NCCIA’s figures. Families of the arrested young men and women, and local residents, protested near Baloch Colony Bridge, saying many of those detained were ordinary employees who had answered job adverts.
A bigger problem
Akbar said about 350 call centres in Karachi are currently involved in scams. Pakistan’s IT and call-centre sector earns real foreign exchange, and the industry has long warned that fraud operations hurt honest firms that serve foreign clients.
For job seekers, the case is a warning: night-shift “call centre” jobs offering high pay with no clear client, scripts that ask you to pose as a bank, tax office or tech support, or being told not to tell anyone what the work is, are red flags.
The nine suspects on physical remand are due back in court when their two days end.
