48 Chinese nationals among 149 arrested in Pakistan scam centre raid
Citizens from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Myanmar were also arrested for allegedly running Ponzi schemes and collecting money illegally from the public
Pakistan police arrested 149 people – including 71 foreigners, mostly Chinese – in a raid on a scam call centre, the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency said on Thursday.
“During the raid, a large call centre was uncovered, which was involved in Ponzi schemes and investment fraud,” the agency said in a statement.
“Through this fraudulent network, the public was being deceived and vast sums of money were being illegally collected.”
The agency said they were acting on a tip-off about the network, operating in the city of Faisalabad, a manufacturing centre in the east of the country.
The agency said that the raid was at the residence of Tasheen Awan, the former head of the city’s power grid, who has not been arrested.
All those arrested were in custody, including 78 Pakistanis and 48 Chinese, as well as citizens from Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Myanmar.