KARACHI: A judicial magistrate granted a post-arrest bail to four suspects in a case pertaining to the theft of credit card data through ‘spoofed calls’.

Advocate Mian Rafiu Ahmed Tunio had filed applications on behalf of Yateer Gill, Muhammad Kashif, Philemon Johson and Sharoon before the judicial magistrate (South), seeking the bail.

After hearing the prosecution and defence, the court granted bail to the suspects against a surety bond of Rs100,000 each along with personal bonds. The court ordered the jail authorities to release them if they were not required in any other case.

According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), they received a complaint regarding an illegal call centre, data theft and electronic fraud. After getting approval, the FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Centre raided a bungalow in Khayaban-i-Jaml, DHA Phase IV, and apprehended the suspects.

During the raid, the FIA team seized electronic equipment. They found that the suspects were allegedly involved in making fraud calls by impersonating themselves as representatives of foreign banks for unauthorised illegal balance transfers and extracting personal and critical information without the intimation of the US card holders.

The agency claimed that they (suspects) were allegedly extracting personal information, including social security numbers, cell phone numbers, etc. They further stated that after getting their confidential details like bank accounts/ credit cards, those details were transferred to different merchants, and they (suspects) got paid.

The defence counsel submitted that his clients were falsely implicated in that case and highlighted the lacunas in the investigation and procedural contradictions before the court.

Advocate Tunio contended that his clients had remained in the FIA custody for 12 days, but the investigation officer had failed to produce concrete evidence linking his clients to the alleged crime.

“The digital and physical evidence seized from the alleged call centre has not yielded any incriminating data directly connecting the applicants to the fraud or identity theft,” the counsel argued.

The FIA registered a case against the suspects under Sections 3 (unauthorised access to information system or data, 4 (unauthorised copying or transmission of data), 13 (electronic forgery), 14 (electronic forgery), 26 (spoofing) of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, read with Section 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security, will, etc), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 109 (abetment ) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2025