SAHIWAL: A practicing lawyer from Chichawatni Tehsil Bar, Qammar Shahzad, was robbed of Rs510,000 after receiving a hoax call claiming that his son had been caught red-handed by police while allegedly raping a girl along with three friends.
The caller, posing as station house officer (SHO), Zain Shah, threatened if the money wasn’t transferred, a rape case would be registered against his son, a class-X student at a reputable school.
Without verifying the claim or speaking to his son, the lawyer hastily transferred the money to various online cash accounts as instructed by the caller. The scam was uncovered when his son, Daud Qamar, returned home from school as usual, completely unaware of the alleged incident.
The Chichawatni Saddar Police registered a case under Sections 170, 419, and 420 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) as well as Section 25 of Telegraph Act- 1885 on Qammar Shahzad’s complaint.
Reports said, Shahzad, a resident of village 109/12-L and a practicing lawyer at the Tehsil Court Bar in Chichawatni, received a call from an unknown number. The caller introduced himself as Zain Shah, SHO of a local police station, and falsely claimed that Daud, along with three others, had been captured by mobile police while committing a rape in a nearby village. The fake cop told Shahzad that he was withholding the registration of an FIR due to Daud being a student and that he was reaching out as a favour to his father.
The lawyer, without verifying the story with the school or his son, entered into negotiations with the caller. Initially, the SHO demanded Rs800,000, but the final deal was done in Rs510,000, which was transferred to different accounts within two hours. After the transaction, all the phone numbers, including those of the alleged SHO, were switched off.
The scam only came to light when Daud returned home from school, unaware of any such incident. Police started the investigation and getting data of CNICs against which the mobile phone SIM numbers were registered.
Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2024
