Four men held over ‘scamming foreign nationals’ remanded in judicial custody

A judicial magistrate on Wednesday remanded four suspects into judicial custody in a case pertaining to scamming foreign nationals by stealing their credit card data. Investigating officer Ashraf Jan produced four suspects – Hassaan Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Mustafa Riaz, Abdul Samad and Irtaza Riaz -- before a judicial magistrate (East) and requested an extension of their physical remand for further interrogation.

The IO stated that they are required to be further questioned about modus operandi and recovery of POS machines used in the commission of the said crime, requesting the magistrate to hand over their custody to the FIA for nine days.

The magistrate turned down the IO’s request for further remand of the suspects in the FIA custody as “not cogent and plausible” and sent the suspects to jail on judicial remand. According to the content of the FIR, Hassaan Ahmed Khan, Muhammad Mustafa Riaz, Abdul Samad, Irtaza Riaz, Bilal, Razi Ahmed, Shehriyar and other suspects were involved in theft of confidential financial data of credit cards of foreign nationals through spoofed calls and impersonation.

The accused would utilize the stolen data for their wrongful gains by disguising their true identity. “The accused persons are involved in defrauding several foreign nationals,” the FIA said. “During enquiry, a raid was conducted at the office of ‘IFBOTEX Pvt Ltd’ located at B-32, Block-5, Gulistan-e-Johar, Karachi where the employees (agents) were found performing illegal action of spoofed calls through ‘Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) software to different foreign nationals and obtaining their confidential credentials by alluring them that they are calling from security department of master and visa banking system and that they will lower the interest rates on taxes upon the loan obtained by them.”

The FIA said electronic gadgets being used in the commission of the alleged offence were seized on the spot. The FIR was lodged under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 and Pakistan Penal Code.