ISLAMABAD 14 July (Online0): Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) cybercrime wing on Friday arrested nine people in suspects of threatening people through ‘online loan app’.
Agency spokerperson told that officials raided at Saidpur Road area to arrest the suspects.
Further he said cases were also registered against 19 others suspects.
While conducting raid Inspector Badar Munir sealed many officers of the company located in a commercial plaza.
Statement says the suspects target was to make 100 to 150 calls on daily basis to those (including families and friends) who had used app.
The statement added that there were separate departments dealing with “torture calls” in the said offices.
“Each section was assigned separate tasks with regard to making calls. There were sections named D-0, D-1, D-2, DS-1, DS-2 and DS-3,” the statement added.
It further said that the personal data of the citizens was accessed through the said loan apps which was later on used to harass the affected citizens.
The FIA recovered a large number of documents, computers, laptops and SIMs during the raid.
The investigation agency added that the suspects have been arrested and an investigation has been initiated, adding that raids are being conducted to nab other suspects.
On the other hand, the issue of blackmailing citizens through online loan apps also came to light in Karachi where an affected citizen complained to FIA Cybercrime Karachi. However, no action has been taken yet.
The development comes as the FIA initiated a probe after debt-stricken Muhammad Masood, 42, committed suicide earlier this week after being pressurised and blackmailed by the app employees into returning the borrowed money with high interest.
He had taken an initial loan of Rs13,000 but missed deadlines and the sky-hit interest meant that he owed two lenders more than Rs700,000.
The accused had been threatening to leak personal data from the cell phone of Muhammad Masood who narrated the story of the app employees’ blackmailing in his last message.
In it, he mentioned the pressure to pay the interest and loan amount as he was being threatened and blackmailed by personnel of the online loan app.
The three-member FIA team also took the mobile phone of the victim and also reviewed his emails, including the correspondence with the digital lender. They also recorded the statements of the deceased’s wife and brother.
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