THE recent raid by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency on a dubious call centre in Karachi shows how fraudulent enterprises pose a threat to both an unsuspecting public and the credibility of genuine technology businesses in the country. This week, the NCCIA picked up as many as 273 suspects from an office premises connected to an alleged international scam network involved in credit card data theft through ‘spoof calls’. A day later, on the order of a judicial magistrate, the department released 98 women and an unspecified number of juvenile boys employed as call agents. The facility, accused of operating as a debt validation service, targeted foreign nationals with identity misuse, caller ID ‘spoofing’, and impersonation. Illegal call centres rake in big money, and such arrests often end up being ceremonial because swindling on such a large scale is impossible without powerful patronage.

India is the hotbed of extortion cartels. But the regularity with which financial merchandise, Ponzi schemes, bogus tech provision, and other nefarious activities are busted in this country indicates that Pakistan is in danger of catching up. Despite the Operation Grey campaign against this criminal industry, rounding up hapless lower-level staff is not going to end the criminal practice — it simply disrupts these nefarious operations instead of dismantling them, and allows the actual masterminds to escape police scrutiny. The NCCIA must live up to its promise of carrying out “indiscriminate and vigorous operations”, which is achievable when the authority brings the kingpins behind these rings to justice, irrespective of their background. The licencing process has to be transparent with clear accountability mechanisms. An updated dashboard for each province should be available to the public. The government is obligated to crack down on scams in which sophisticated technology is deployed to cheat innocent citizens and to facilitate the recovery of the victims’ money.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2026