Man, son arrested for swindling Saudi firm out of $16,295

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said on Tuesday that they have arrested a man and his son for their involvement in fraudulent activities. The arrests were made by the FIA’s Cyber Crime Circle.

The suspects have been identified as Anjum Shahzad and his son Fahad Shahzad. Their arrests were made during a raid at their residence on Tipu Sultan Road. They are accused of swindling a Saudi company out of $16,295 (approximately Rs2.5 million).

Enquiry No. 221/2019 was registered at the FIA Cyber Crime Circle on the complaint of one Anisur Rehman Siddiqui, resident of Gulistan-e-Jauhar. He said in the FIR that a man claiming to be a seller on Alibaba.com agreed to export table eggs from Pakistan to Moroni Port, Comros Island for one of the clients of the Saudi firm.

Siddiqui said $16,295 was transferred online from Saudi Arabia to a bank in Karachi, but the seller did not send the shipment and started making excuses for the delay. The complainant said he represented the Saudi company in Pakistan, adding that they had a deal through a representative, Asad Rafiq of the 4A International, Karachi, for the export of table eggs.

They were constantly in touch with the seller, who went by the name Jawaid Ahmed, but his mobile number was actually registered in the name of Anjum Shahzad, who first sent them an invoice of $23,000 (approximately Rs3.5 million) and demanded advance payment in full. After negotiations on WhatsApp, it was agreed that some of the money would be paid in advance and the remaining would be paid after the eggs reached Moroni.

An advance payment of $16,295 was made to the Karachi bank’s Tipu Sultan Road branch in instalments of $9,295 and $7,000. The FIA team later raided Shahzad’s residence in Al Hamra Society on Tipu Sultan Road and arrested him and his son.

They have been shifted to the police station with the recovered electronic equipment. The above-mentioned facts constitute the commission of punishable offence. Hence, the case has been registered under the permission of the competent authority against Shahzad and his son, while further investigation is under way.