PTA blocks 15,039 suspicious links in online fraud crackdown
Documents given to a Senate committee show 95.75 per cent of 15,706 flagged links were blocked, along with thousands of mobile numbers and devices.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has blocked 15,039 of more than 15,706 suspicious links flagged for electronic fraud, 95.75 per cent of the total, according to documents placed before the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights and reported by Independent Urdu.
The flagged links covered websites and mobile applications as well as material circulating on Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, the documents show.
Action went beyond links. Between September 2023 and September 2026, the authority blocked 6,818 mobile numbers and 5,925 mobile devices suspected of being used in fraud, and blocked 174 national identity cards. The same 6,818 cases were referred to the Federal Investigation Agency and the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency.
Banks in Pakistan have been contending with a rise in cybercrime, while international bodies say one in two Pakistanis faces some form of cybersecurity problem. Rapid digitalisation and a sharp increase in online payments have widened the exposure.
Bankers quoted in the report said the situation has not reached an alarming level but that immediate steps are needed to contain it and to make the country's banking system more stable. The report did not name the bankers or the international bodies.
Separately, law enforcement agencies have raided several alleged illegal call centres in recent months. In late September, a raid on a suspected illegal call centre in Rawalpindi led to the arrest of 61 people and the seizure of 155 laptops and 71 mobile phones. On 22 September, 212 Pakistani and Chinese nationals were detained in action against three alleged illegal call centres in Islamabad.
Authorities linked those centres to fraud carried out through fake investment schemes, bogus loans and social media.
At the end of September, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi directed the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency to take effective action against financial fraud, fake accounts and digital blackmail.
The Senate committee documents do not break the blocked links down by platform, and give no estimate of the money lost to the frauds the links were tied to.
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