ISLAMABAD: FIA Director Shakeel Durrani during a press conference here on Friday told the media that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has detained a man from Rawalpindi on charges of fraud and recovered blank cards, a magnetic strip reader, a skimmer and other devices from his possession.
The man identified as Saqibullah, was arrested for the production of fake credit cards, stealing credit card information, as well as, blackmailing women by using their private videos.
The criminal was also in contact with foreign hackers from multiple countries like Canada, Nigeria, Italy and also an Indian hacker named Sorev, revealed the FIA director while speaking to the media.
“He was running a skimming fraud racket in Rawalpindi and Islamabad with their assistance. He also sold data to the hackers for money,” said Durrani.
He further said that the accused had been using his family members CNIC’s and had forged credit cards in their names for his unlawful operations. “The FIA is investigating the role of the accused’s family members and is also looking for other accomplices,” he said.
“A first information report has been registered against the accused”, said Durrani.
ATM skimming frauds have been the latest scandal to envelop the country. Earlier this week, Habib Bank Limited confirmed that over Rs 10 million had been stolen from 559 of its customers’ accounts by the use of skimming devices.
A bank official revealed that the transactions had been traced back to other countries including China and Indonesia. According to the FIA, the theft, which was the doing of an ‘organised foreign group’, was a result of the use of ‘obsolete technology’ and decades-old security systems being used at ATM booths.
