Pakistan's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) arrested 1,749 suspects and recovered more than Rs149.8 million during 53 days of enforcement activity across the country, according to official figures released this week. The agency received 10,386 cybercrime complaints over the period, opened 6,672 inquiries and registered 442 cases.

The figures cover operations against online financial fraud, identity misuse, online harassment and offences targeting women and children, with individual operations reported in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Abbottabad and other cities. The agency's Cyber Patrolling Unit analysed 4,530 web addresses and referred 1,186 unlawful links to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for blocking.

Call centre raids dominate the arrests

The largest share of the arrests came from the crackdown on suspected illegal call centres. Authorities carried out 59 raids, registered 43 cases and arrested 973 people, including 211 foreign nationals. They also seized 15,502 items during the raids.

Additional Director Shahzad Akbar had earlier estimated that 300 to 350 skimming and scam call centres were operating in Karachi alone, and said the agency would take action against those involved. He said the NCCIA had taken action against one of three major companies operating in the sector, which had also faced action in the past.

One of the largest recent operations took place in Karachi on 4 November, when NCCIA teams arrested 273 people from a suspected call-centre operation near Sharea Faisal. The facility, identified as Voxtron Solutions near Kavish Crown Plaza, was allegedly operating as a debt validation service targeting foreign nationals. Authorities recovered 339 laptops, 152 mobile phones and four computers, and registered a case under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016.

A day earlier, on 3 November, the NCCIA Lahore Zone raided an illegal call centre in the Township area of Lahore and arrested eight suspects, including two women, recovering 53 digital devices. According to investigators, the suspects were defrauding British citizens under the guise of telecom services, offering discounts on mobile phone upgrades and SIM-only packages to obtain their financial information.

How victims were targeted

Akbar said young people who should be in education were being employed in the call centres, while local residents and retired people were among those targeted by the fraud. He said investigators seized 329 laptops containing fake identities and credit-card information. Victims were reportedly lured with offers before their accounts were drained through fraudulent schemes.

The enforcement drive is being carried out under NCCIA Director General Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi, who has directed field formations to prioritise financial fraud, online harassment and complaints involving women and children, while improving investigations through digital forensic evidence.

The figures describe reported enforcement activity and recoveries rather than completed court outcomes. The breakdown does not specify the number of convictions, acquittals or resolved complaints, or how much of the recovered money has been returned to affected citizens. In the Karachi case, 264 of the 273 people arrested on 4 November had been granted bail, while nine remained in investigative custody.

Members of the public can submit complaints through the agency's online portal at complaint.nccia.gov.pk, while the NCCIA lists 1799 as its round-the-clock helpline. The agency says the crackdown will continue, with further raids expected as its teams work through the thousands of complaints still under inquiry.