ISLAMABAD: Foreign nationals arrested in recent Islamabad raids ran organised call centre operations that combined online romance scams, investment fraud and the production of explicit live-streamed content, according to investigators, while a parallel network of facilitators allegedly helped them enter and stay in the country.
The Federal Investigation Agency and National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency detained hundreds of suspects, mostly from Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, at two main sites: Sparco Plaza in Gulberg Greens and a facility linked to the Aofu Group in Sector I-10/3. Many of the 671 individuals now facing blacklisting had entered Pakistan on tourist, visit or business visas but were found operating large-scale commercial setups inconsistent with those conditions.
Officials said the operations were structured like conventional call centres, with suspects divided across floors. One section focused on financial scamming; another handled live video chats and explicit content. Suspects allegedly posed as women on mobile applications, dating platforms and social media, using downloaded or AI-generated photographs and fake personas to initiate contact. They built trust through prolonged conversations and video calls before introducing fraudulent investment or cryptocurrency schemes that promised unusually high returns.
Once victims transferred money, often via crypto wallets or overseas accounts, the operators either disappeared or demanded further payments. In parallel, some teams engaged targets in sexually explicit video interactions, recorded the material and used it for blackmail or further financial extraction. Investigators recovered computers, mobile devices and digital records pointing to money routed abroad rather than through Pakistani bank accounts. One company had registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan as an IT or software business, creating a veneer of legitimacy while conducting the alleged activities.
FIA Director General Usman Anwar has described the model as organised online fraud in which suspects first established emotional connections and then steered victims toward fake business opportunities. NCCIA statements on the Aofu Group raid referred to “online solicitation and inducement of individuals for sexual conversations and video activities, impersonation and cheating for monetary gain through electronic means.” Cases were registered under the Foreigners Act, the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act and relevant sections of the Pakistan Penal Code.
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A facilitation network also came under scrutiny. A Chinese national identified as Xiao Jingping, also known as Jack or Jason, allegedly acted as a middleman. During interrogation he disclosed that officials from the Immigration and Passports Department and Islamabad Police’s Special Protection Unit arranged immigration clearances for foreign passengers in return for Rs80,000 per person. WhatsApp chats and payment receipts recovered from mobile phones supported the claims. The FIA’s Anti-Corruption Cell registered a case and arrested Passport Office official Junaid Mughal and SPU official Zafar Iqbal; approximately Rs20 million in cash was recovered from one of the suspects’ vehicles. The Chinese middleman further alleged that foreign nationals paid monthly “protection money” to certain NCCIA elements in Islamabad, a claim that remains under investigation.
Local Pakistani facilitators who may have helped with premises, logistics or recruitment are also being probed. Embassies of the countries concerned have been informed, and the Foreign Office has been asked to share details of the alleged offences with the home governments. Authorities continue forensic examination of seized devices and financial trails to map the full extent of the networks and identify any remaining local links.
