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PAKISTAN
#1 Sumsub
FRAUD TYPES
Identity fraud, financial fraud, telecom fraud, digital payment fraud
KEY FACTS
#1 fraud vulnerability globally (Sumsub 2025). Rapidly digitizing economy. FMU updated STR framework 2024.
REPORT FRAUD IN PAKISTAN2▸
2 agencies you can contact. Tap one for how to reach it and what to have ready.
FIAFIA Cybercrime Wing▸
NATIONAL · CYBER / CRYPTO
SBPState Bank of Pakistan▸
NATIONAL · FINANCIAL REGULATION
BORN HERE1▸
1 person in our case files was born in Pakistan. Tap to open the report.
OPERATED HERE1▸
Physically based or working in Pakistan — lived, ran an office, met victims or was stationed here, per the record. Hacking a target here does not count.
Pakistan
WHAT THEY DID HERE, AND WHEN
Oct 2018BankIslami ATM cash-out proceeds laundered (DOJ; attributed to North Korea).SOURCE: DOJ
OUR CASES BY CATEGORY▸
Share of the 2 cases tied to Pakistan (born or operated here)
FRAUD METHODS TIED HERE6▸
From the Global Fraud Encyclopedia and the cases above. Tap a method for its page.
#5 Business Email Compromise (BEC)used in our cases ▸#7 Money Launderingused in our cases ▸#8 Securities Fraud / Insider Tradingused in our cases ▸#20 Wire Fraudused in our cases ▸#33 Money Mule Recruitmentused in our cases ▸#100 Diploma / Credential FraudEncyclopedia ▸KNOWN FOR▸
THE PICTURE▸
Pakistan-based groups have supplied tools and labour to global online fraud: in May 2025 police arrested 21 people in Lahore and Multan linked to 'HeartSender', a phishing-kit and spam service tied to more than $50M in US losses, after the FBI and Dutch police seized its infrastructure (KrebsOnSecurity; Dawn, May 2025). Illegal call centres, some run with Chinese and other foreign nationals, have been raided repeatedly in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, including a 2026 raid in which 212 people were detained (Express Tribune, 2026). Enforcement is hampered by capacity: the FIA received over 73,000 cybercrime complaints in 2024 but registered only 1,604 cases (Business Recorder, citing FIA). Cyber-fraud policing moved in 2025 from the FIA to the new National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, which itself faced a bribery scandal over protecting illegal call centres.
TOP FRAUDSTERS FROM HERE3▸
Rameez Shahzad (alias Saim Raza) CHARGEDREPORT PENDING
$50M+ (US losses linked to the group's tools) · 2015–2025
Alleged mastermind of the HeartSender/Fudtools phishing-kit service sold to fraudsters worldwide; arrested in Lahore in May 2025.
SOURCE: KrebsOnSecurity / Dawn, May 2025
Agha Hasan Abedi CONVICTEDREPORT PENDING
Not reliably quantified (bank had ~1.3M depositors in 70+ countries) · 1972–1991
Founder of BCCI, the bank shut by regulators worldwide in 1991 over fraud and money laundering; convicted of fraud in absentia in the UAE, he died in Karachi in 1995 while Pakistan refused extradition.
SOURCE: Deseret News / AP, 6 Aug 1995
Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh ACQUITTEDREPORT PENDING
$140M (alleged fake-degree scheme) · 2009–2015
CEO of Axact, accused of selling fake degrees from hundreds of fictitious online universities; a 2018 conviction was overturned and he was acquitted in 2023.
SOURCE: University World News, May 2024; Gulf News, 2018
FRAUD BY CATEGORY▸
No official body here publishes a breakdown of fraud by type, so we show none rather than guess.
KEY NUMBERS▸
73,000+ Cybercrime complaints filed with the FIA in 2024; 1,604 cases registered (FIA 2024 annual report via Business Recorder)
13,000+ Online financial fraud complaints in 2024, with 1,212 arrests and 17 verdicts (FIA 2024 annual report via Business Recorder)
21 Arrests in the HeartSender raids in Lahore and Multan, May 2025 (Dawn, May 2025)
WHO FIGHTS IT▸
National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) replaced the FIA Cybercrime Wing in 2025 under the amended Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA, amended Jan 2025).
Joint operation with the FBI and Dutch police against HeartSender (infrastructure seized Jan 2025; arrests May 2025).
Repeated raids on illegal call centres in Islamabad (e.g. 212 detained in E-11/G-10; 100 detained Sep 2026).
SOURCES▸
KrebsOnSecurity, May 2025
Dawn, May 2025
Express Tribune, 2026; The Nation, 22 Sep 2026
Business Recorder (citing FIA 2024 annual report)
University World News, May 2024
Deseret News / AP, 6 Aug 1995
Case lists and figures compiled September 2026 from court records, regulators and major press; statuses change. Series reports above are fact-checked case files.