LAHORE: The Punjab home department has ide­ntified an illegal US-based website imitating the name and style of the Go­­vernment of Punjab to de­­fraud innocent citizens while offering arms licence services.

The home department has written letters to the Pakistan Tele­commu­nica­tion Authority (PTA) chair­­man and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) director-general cy­­bercrime, explaining that a fake and bogus website by the name of “Punjab Arms License Manage­m­ent Verification System” (www.palms.org.pk) was being used to gather sensitive personal information of citizens and obtain payment from them under the garb of issuance of arms license and other arms-related services.

“The website is illegal and maintains the name and style of Government of Punjab and claims to be an official website to def­raud innocent citizens.”

The home department wrote an initial analysis of the website which revea­led that the website had been hosted by Godaddy.com USA, and individuals who are operating this website are using different cell numbers and collecting money through easypaisa account.

It stated the domain name of the original website owned by the Punjab government is www.pal.nadra.gov.pk/pal/.

The home department asked the PTA and FIA that the matter be thoroughly investigated and all websites using the same name — other than the official website, be permanently blocked to protect innocent public. It requested both authorities to initiate legal action against culprits.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2025