LAHORE: The Federal Investigation Agency cyber crime on Wednesday arrested two people for allegedly involved in extorting money from public at large through different forex websites.

“Acting upon complaints, a team conducted a raid at a hotel in Cavalry Ground, Lahore, where suspect Muhammad Asif and Qasim Raza were running his illegal business. They would persuade the people to invest in forex business through unregistered/fake websites claiming themselves representatives of the websites in Pakistan,” Deputy Director Chaudhry Sarfraz said.

The raiding team recovered one laptop and three mobile phones from the suspects. The FIA said during analysis conducted by the supervisory officer, four fake and unregistered websites – www.forexhometrade.com, www.ormeus.com, www.learnearnown.com and www.idiidentification.com – were identified along with a number of illegal forex trading accounts and proofs regarding purchase and exchange of local currency in digital currency/cryptocurrency which has been banned by the State Bank of Pakistan.

It said the suspects were also found involved in promoting illegal forex and digital currency businesses through fake/unregistered Hong Kong websites through social media and also in extortion of money from public at large.

After recovery of alleged material and sufficient incriminating evidence, a case has been registered against them under sections 13 and 14 of PECA-2016 and 420,109 of PPC.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019