LAHORE: It was an ordinary day when Karachi-based S M Siddique received a call from a Saudi number. The caller, speaking in a distressed tone, addressed Siddique as ‘mamoo’ (uncle) and claimed he was stranded at an airport, facing jail unless he paid some amount.
Taken aback, Siddique asked who was calling. The man insisted Siddique should recognise him, prompting Siddique to mention one of his nephews’ names. The fraudster immediately adopted the identity of his nephew Asad, who lives in Lahore, and tearfully begged for one million rupees.
When Siddique explained he did not have that much in his account, the caller pleaded for whatever was possible and provided a bank account number. Out of affection, Siddique transferred Rs100,000. Soon after, the caller rang again, pressing for more money and urging him not to inform other family members.
Suspicious, Siddique, a financially literate retiree from the National Investment Trust (NIT), phoned Asad’s elder brother. “Did you transfer any money?” his nephew asked. When Siddique confirmed he had, his nephew warned it was a scam, as Asad was in Lahore and not performing Umrah in Saudi Arabia.
Such incidents are reported daily across Pakistan, but this case stands out: even a financially savvy individual fell victim.
According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) data, complaints about fraudulent activities declined in 2024-25 compared with the previous year, largely due to awareness campaigns by the authority and other agencies.
Advocate Mian Dawood believes that digital scamming activities persist due to the Federal Investigation Agency’s failure (FIA) to respond promptly to complaints of financial crimes. Usually, the FIA takes two to three months to initiate an inquiry against such crimes. This, he says, gives ample time to scammers to move to a new place and purchase a new SIM.
Many victims give up pursuing cases, discouraged by delays or the arduous process of registering and following up complaints. This underreporting, Dawood adds, gives fraudsters a free hand. Political interference also hampers investigations, with some local leaders pressuring FIA to release arrested suspects.
Per Dawood, in one such case, while FIA officials successfully arrested criminals, some local politicians exerted pressurise for the release of the accused person and opted for an out-of-court settlement since the accused was from their constituency.
The FIA’s shortage of skilled investigators further undermines its effectiveness. Dawood urges urgent recruitment of technical experts and the creation of a system to launch inquiries within 24 to 48 hours of a complaint. “Conventional methods don’t work in fast-paced digital crime,” he says.
PTA registered 15,138 complaints in 2023-24, of which all but one were resolved. In 2024-25, the number dropped to 6,616, all addressed. In 2023-24, PTA received 12,043 complaints of fraudulent calls/SMS, 1,417 via WhatsApp, 1,295 related to the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), 296 linked to the BOL Game Show, and 87 other consumer complaints. By 2024-25, these had fallen across categories, with 4,769 fraudulent calls/SMS, 916 via WhatsApp, 681 BISP-related, 193 linked to BOL Game Show and 57 other complaints.
PTA officials attribute the fall to extensive campaigns across print, digital and electronic media, as well as SMS alerts and automated calls.
Digital expert Dr Hafeezur Rehman says that the number of fraud cases is much higher than official figures reported. This, according to him, could be because lack of trust in government institutions and the fact that people who lose smaller amounts, say Rs5,000 or Rs10,000, do not report to the authorities concerned.
He also shares that most people do not know that the National Cyber Crimes Investigation Agency (NCCIA) is the right platform for such complaints.
Rehman observes that hackers usually work in gangs and collect the targeted person’s information through social engineering. He highlights people’s habit of sharing their sensitive information on social media. Some of the data is purchased from the dark web. Using this data, the hackers make calls when the targeted individual could be busy so s/he will not get enough time to think and verify the matter.
Scammers also employ VPNs and open accounts on mobile money platforms with stolen identities, sometimes from individuals in remote areas whose data was harvested through ration schemes, free SIM distributions or BISP support programmes.
Per Rehman, adaptive awareness drives are the only solution to reduce such scams since scammers keep changing their tactics to steal money.
