ISLAMABAD, May 30: Additional Sessions Judge, Rawalpindi, Amjad Nazeer Chaudhry on Monday sentenced a man to five years in jail and fined him Rs950,000 for using a fake credit card.

The conviction of a cyber criminal is the first success of National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). The accused was arrested red-handed trying to use a forged credit card at a chemist shop in Rawalpindi for purchasing precious injections. The slip generated by the credit card machine did not print the name of the cardholder, which made the transaction suspicious. The accused was arrested after the shopkeeper conveyed this situation to Bank Alfalah, which confirmed that the used credit card number was fake and belonged to an American Bank.

In custody, the accused took his case to the Supreme Court, which dismissed his bail petition, and directed for completing the trial in three months.

According to an FIA official, a gang of criminals had been using fake credit cards at various shops in the twin cities. He said the accused had disclosed locations wherefrom they had been purchasing electronic items on fake credit cards and fake National Identity Cards.

The shopkeepers told the trial court that the accused had used credit cards on their shops, which were later confirmed as bogus transactions by the relevant banks. In the 18-page judgement, the judge said the accused was identified by other shopkeepers as the person using fake cards at their shops.