149 Arrested in Faisalabad for Ponzi-Style Investment Fraud, Including Zimbabwean Nationals
Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) arrested 149 people, including Nigerian and Zimbabwean nationals, after raiding an illicit call centre accused of running Ponzi-style investment schemes.
The raid at a house linked to former power-grid chief Tasheen Awan uncovered evidence of staged “tasks” on TikTok and YouTube that paid small returns before victims were pushed into larger deposits via Telegram.
Authorities have lodged seven financial-fraud cases against the suspects in connection with the operation.
Of the 149 suspects, 78 were Pakistani citizens; the remainder hailed from China, Nigeria, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, among them 18 women.
A Faisalabad court granted five-day physical remand for 69 individuals and 14-day judicial remand for the other 62, The Express Tribune reported.
Investigators also seized dozens of mobile phones, laptops and printed call scripts used to pitch investments in multiple languages.
Scammers first lured participants into WhatsApp groups by promising quick profits for subscribing to specific TikTok and YouTube channels.
Once initial payments secured trust, victims were redirected to Telegram links requiring ever-larger deposits.
Reporting by TRT Global shows this staged escalation ensnared thousands of investors across South Asia and beyond, and that NCCIA’s digital forensics team is now tracing cross-border money flows.
Inspector General Shoaib Akhtar said the network operated with “military-style coordination,” using multilingual scripts to ensnare diverse communities.
Authorities stressed that no legitimate investment comes with guaranteed returns and urged anyone approached with unsolicited schemes to verify credentials through the NCCIA’s cybercrime unit and report suspicious activity via its hotline.
As investigators trace illicit funds beyond Pakistan’s borders and prepare for further arrests, this operation marks a decisive strike against cross-border fraud and underscores the continuing need for vigilance.
