LAHORE: A judicial magistrate on Thursday directed the leading social media networking website Facebook’s management in California, US, to submit information about the creator of an online shopping page, who allegedly defrauded the public at large.

A citizen, Masood Sarwar, filed a complaint with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) saying his wife selected a dress from an online shopping page on Facebook named “Five Star Couture” and paid Rs13,000 to the page creator through a cellular company’s money transferring service.

The complainant said his wife never received the dress she had selected against the payment made to the online shopping page’s owner. He said the page’s owner contact numbers were found switched off when his wife tried to lodge a complaint.

The FIA investigator told the court that the owner of the fake online shopping page had also defrauded hundreds of other people. He said the offence fell within the purview of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

Magistrate Farooq Azam Sohal issued an order to the Facebook’s security department in California, US, directing it to provide complete information of the creator of the fake online shopping page to the FIA in the interest of justice. Hearing was adjourned for two weeks.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2017