Pakistan police have arrested 149 individuals, including two Sri Lankans, in a raid on a scam call centre operating in Faisalabad, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) confirmed on Thursday.
According to the agency, the network was engaged in Ponzi-style fraud schemes, duping victims into investing large sums of money under the pretext of high returns from fake investment platforms.
Those arrested include 78 Pakistanis, 48 Chinese nationals, eight Nigerians, four Filipinos, six Bangladeshis, two Myanmar nationals, one Zimbabwean, and two Sri Lankans. Eighteen of the suspects are women.
The scammers reportedly used WhatsApp and Telegram groups to lure victims with small investment tasks—such as subscribing to TikTok or YouTube channels—before persuading them to make larger investments.
One victim, Muhammad Sajid, told BBC Urdu he was drawn in via Telegram and ended up investing over 3.1 million rupees (around USD 36,600) in stages.
During Tuesday’s raid, authorities seized hundreds of computers, servers, foreign SIM cards, and cryptocurrency platforms. The raid targeted the residence of Malik Tehseen Awan, a former head of the local power grid, who remains at large.
On Wednesday, 149 suspects were produced in court. Of them, 87 were remanded to the NCCIA for five days, while the remaining 62 were sent to judicial custody until July 23.
