A court on Thursday remanded the CEO of Digitonics, a software house operating from Karachi, and seven others in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) custody for seven days. The court also directed FIA to arrest two absconding accused, including the firm’s owner, at the earliest.
Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) had recently arrested the CEO of the software house on Shahrah-e-Faisal, Karachi, after a raid, for charges of harassment, money laundering, forgery and other cybercrime.
The company has been accused by FIA under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016, under the section 13 of electronic forgery, unauthorized use of identity information under Section 16, and electronic fraud under Section 14, spoofing under Section 26, and offenses against the dignity of a natural person under Section 20.
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As well as the Pakistan Penal Code: Section 34 common intention, Section 109 abetment, Section 419 cheating by personation, Section 420 cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, Section 468 forgery for the purpose of cheating, Section 471 using as genuine a forged document, Section 500 defamation, and sections 3 and 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
According to the FIR, the crimes were committed between 2015 and 2021. The report identified scams operating throughout the country, including harassment, fraudulent activities, identity impersonation, cheating, phishing and extortion.
“It revealed the scammers have different websites offering various services which include designs, web developing etc. These websites are reported to blackmail and extort money from their customers after gaining their personal information by impersonating themselves as government officials of the US, UK and UAE,” it read.
It also accused the company of forcefully shutting down customers’ websites and then charging hefty amounts for their restoration. “The impact of these scams in not only contributing to increase the crime rate but will damage the reputation of Pakistan internationally.”
