Zaigham Sana Warraich
\nThe phone rings. A man introduces himself as Inspector Khalid from a local police station and asks for the father by name. His son, he says, has been arrested with two friends in a serious moral offence involving a girl. Wireless chatter crackles in the background\u2014a carefully staged detail that makes the call sound authentic. Then the caller offers to let the father speak to his son. A frightened voice, sobbing, pleads that the police are beating him and begs his father to send whatever amount is demanded. At that moment, the father stops thinking rationally. Whether or not he has the money, he finds it and transfers it within minutes through a mobile wallet. Only later does he discover the truth. There was no arrest, no complaint, no Inspector Khalid. His son was never in police custody. Trying to rescue his child, he instead became the victim of a cybercrime\u2014losing not only his money but also enduring some of the most terrifying minutes of his life.
\nAnother call is far more polite. A courier company claims to have a parcel in the recipient\u2019s name and asks to confirm the delivery address. The address is read out correctly, instantly creating trust. The caller then says a verification code has been sent to the customer\u2019s phone and asks him to read it aloud. Within seconds, the victim has unknowingly surrendered control of his WhatsApp account. Locked out of his own profile, he watches helplessly as messages are sent to family and friends requesting urgent financial help. Because the requests appear to come from someone they know, many comply. A single shared code turns one victim into many.
\nFinancial fraud is only one dimension of Pakistan\u2019s cybercrime problem. Women and girls increasingly face online harassment, identity theft, spoofing, spamming and sextortion, offences that often inflict lasting psychological and social harm.
\nThese scams have become so common that it is difficult to find a mobile phone user in Pakistan who has never received one. Some callers promise government assistance or prize money in return for personal information or advance fees. Others advertise jobs, visas or investment opportunities that do not exist. Online sellers disappear after receiving payment, while fraudsters exploit trust with little more than a mobile phone, stolen personal data and a convincing voice. Many victims never report these crimes because they are embarrassed, and that silence has become the fraudsters\u2019 greatest protection.
\nFor those who do report the crime, a second ordeal begins. The natural instinct is to visit the nearest police station with the phone, transaction receipt and whatever evidence remains. Yet many victims are told that the police cannot register their complaint because cybercrime falls exclusively under the jurisdiction of the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).
\nThe refusal is not usually the fault of the officer behind the counter. Under Pakistan\u2019s cybercrime framework, the NCCIA has exclusive authority to investigate electronic crimes. Legally, the local police station has little room to act. But for the victim, legal jurisdiction is irrelevant. What he experiences is being turned away by the institution he has always believed would help him. The problem is compounded by accessibility. NCCIA reporting centres are concentrated in provincial and divisional headquarters, requiring many victims to travel long distances after they have already suffered financial loss. Although complaints can also be submitted through an online portal, mobile application or the Pakistan Citizen Portal, these options assume digital literacy and reliable internet access\u2014advantages that many elderly, rural and less educated victims simply do not possess.
\nPakistan\u2019s current model deserves reconsideration. Exclusive national jurisdiction may be appropriate for sophisticated cyber offences, but it is ill-suited to the growing volume of everyday digital fraud affecting ordinary citizens. Countries such as Britain, Canada and Australia divide responsibility according to the seriousness of the offence. Routine cyber-enabled fraud against individuals is investigated by local police, while specialised national agencies concentrate on cyberterrorism, attacks on critical infrastructure, child exploitation, organised crime and complex transnational investigations requiring advanced forensic expertise.
\nCybercrime is no longer a niche offence committed by a handful of highly skilled hackers. It has become one of the country\u2019s most common forms of crime, and crimes committed against ordinary citizens should be policed where those citizens live. The frequent argument that local police lack capacity is valid, but it is not a reason to deny victims access to justice. Capacity can be built through training, resources and clear legal authority.<\/p>\n
The writer is a freelance columnist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zaigham Sana Warraich The phone rings. A man introduces himself as Inspector Khalid from a local police station and asks for the father by name. His son, he says, has been arrested with two friends in a serious moral offence involving a girl. Wireless chatter crackles in the background\u2014a carefully staged detail that makes the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13010],"class_list":["post-559495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-article","tag-zaigham-sana-warraich"],"yoast_head":"\n