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‎ ‎ ‎Pakistan police arrest 149 people in 'scam call centre' raid ‎1 day ago ‎Lucy Clarke-Billings ‎BBC News ‎ ‎Share ‎ ‎Save ‎Courtesy: Ehtisham Shami Image shows the suspects arrested after a raid on a call centre operating in the city of Faisalabad, PakistanCourtesy: Ehtisham Shami ‎The suspects appeared in court on 9 July ‎Pakistan police have arrested 149 people in a raid on a scam call centre, the country's National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) said on Thursday. ‎ ‎The agency told the BBC it acted after a tip-off about the network, which was operating in the city of Faisalabad. ‎ ‎It said the centre was involved in Ponzi schemes and tricked people into handing over vast sums of money in the name of fake investments. ‎ ‎Those arrested included 78 Pakistanis, 48 Chinese nationals, eight Nigerians, four Filipinos, two Sri Lankans, six Bangladeshis, two Myanmar nationals and one Zimbabwean national. ‎ ‎ ‎Eighteen of the 149 were women, the agency added. ‎ ‎A copy of a police report said victims of the alleged scam would initially receive a small return on their first investments, before being persuaded to hand over larger sums of money. ‎ ‎"The charged individuals ran WhatsApp groups where they lured ordinary people by assigning small investment tasks like subscribing to different TikTok and YouTube channels," the agency said. ‎ ‎"Later, they shifted them to Telegram links for further online tasks requiring larger investments." ‎ ‎Pakistani citizen Muhammad Sajid told BBC Urdu that he was added to a Telegram channel with tens of thousands of members and was impressed by the company's work. He said he gave them more than 3.138 million rupees ($11,000) in various instalments. ‎ ‎The raid, which took place on Tuesday, saw authorities seize hundreds of computers, servers, cryptocurrency exchanges and foreign SIM cards from the site. ‎ ‎On Wednesday, 149 suspects appeared in court, 87 of whom were handed over to the NCCIA on a five-day physical remand. ‎ ‎A further 62 suspects have been transferred to the district jail on judicial remand until 23 July. ‎ ‎The agency said the raid was at the residence of Malik Tehseen Awan, the former head of Faisalabad's power grid, who has not been arrested. ‎ ‎Watch: Moment pet lion pounces on woman in street ‎Chinese students sleep off heatwave in libraries and tents ‎Pakistan ‎Related ‎Watch: Moment pet lion pounces on woman in street ‎4 days ago ‎Asia ‎Owners of escaped pet lion arrested after it attacks three people ‎5 days ago ‎Asia ‎Car bomb attack in Pakistan kills at least 13 soldiers ‎29 Jun 2025 ‎Asia ‎Home ‎News ‎Sport ‎Business ‎Innovation ‎Culture ‎Arts ‎Travel ‎Earth ‎Audio ‎Video ‎Live ‎Weather ‎BBC Shop ‎BritBox ‎BBC in other languages ‎Follow BBC on: ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎Terms of Use ‎About the BBC ‎Privacy Policy ‎Cookies ‎Accessibility Help ‎Contact the BBC ‎Advertise with us ‎Do not share or sell my info ‎BBC.com Help & FAQs ‎Archive ‎Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. ‎ ‎ ‎ ‎