154 held as NCCIA busts illegal call centre blackmailing loan app users

ISLAMABAD – A borrower installs a loan app. Without their knowledge, it takes access to their phone gallery and contacts. Soon after, fabricated nude images made from their own pictures are sent to the people in their contact list, until the victim pays. According to the FIR, this was run like a company inside an unregistered call centre in Islamabad. A four-member top management ran the operation under the guise of a legitimate IT business. Team leaders supervised teams and supplied them with data taken from victims’ phones. Recovery agents contacted victims through an app called “Cashloan” and accessed their galleries and personal details. They passed the data to a separate group, which blackmailed the victims by sending superimposed nude images to their contacts for extortion. Pakistan Railways recovers 364 acres land in Karachi The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) says 154 people were arrested from the premises. An Islamabad court on Saturday granted physical remand of the men and sent the women to jail. The FIR says the call centre, named Born CC / NZ Corporation, used the app to recover money for several international online loan apps. It names Rupee Free, Vcash, Wecash, Good life and Power full among them. It says the centre had no registration with any regulatory authority. The case was registered on Nov 13 at the NCCIA’s Cyber Crime Reporting Centre in Islamabad on the complaint of the State through Inspector Adeel Ahmed Sheikh, who is also the investigating officer. It followed a search and seizure in an enquiry, during which digital devices were recovered. The FIR invokes the cyber crime law and Pakistan Penal Code provisions on cheating and common intention. House full ‘Bazm-e-Qawwali’ mesmerises audiences on the 17th Day of the Third World Culture Festival The accused were produced before Senior Civil Judge/Judicial Magistrate (West) Malak Aman through video link in two batches: 112 men and 42 women. NCCIA Assistant Director (Legal) Asim Shahjahan also appeared. The IO sought 10 days’ physical remand of the men and 14 days’ judicial remand of the women. The court allowed three days’ physical remand of the men and ordered that they be produced again on Nov 17. The women were sent to Adiala Jail on judicial remand till Nov 28. The court noted that the accused were arrested at the spot and that there was no plausible explanation for their presence in the call centre’s operations. Sindh Secretary Auqaf visists Sakhi Jam Dattar Shrine It also noted that no documentary proof had been placed on record to show that the call centre was operating with proper authorisation.

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