FIA detains 9 in a crackdown against online loan fraud case

FIA is reported to have detained 9 individuals from Rawalpindi in a crackdown against an online loan fraud case.

As reported, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested nine people engaged in the unlawful practice and sealed a company in Rawalpindi.

According to the sources within the FIA, the authority’s Cybercrime Circle initiated the crackdown on people providing online loans to those faced with extremely tough economic conditions and then extorting large sums of money from them by blackmailing.

Last week, a similar incident resulted in the suicide of an unemployed person in Rawalpindi.

FIA Director General (DG) Mohsin Hassan Butt told news correspondents that the crackdown on illegal financing companies has been initially launched in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and Lahore and would gradually be expanded all over the country.

The FIA DG added the crackdown would be initiated in Karachi next week.

“The FIA Karachi office has been directed to complete initial preparations for the operation,” he added.

FIA teams are also verifying the registration of financial companies with the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and those without the registration certificate would be considered illegal, he said.

He added that the SECP was the registration and regulatory authority to issue licenses to Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) to give loans through the online app.