KARACHI – The Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of Karachi Police raided a fake call center in Gulistan-e-Jauhar’s Block 14 and recovered 12 laptops allegedly used in extortion through spoofing calls.
According to SIU officials, the raid was conducted following information provided by suspects previously arrested from the Boat Basin area. The recovered laptops were reportedly used to make spoofed calls to wealthy individuals in Pakistan and abroad, threatening and blackmailing them to extract extortion money.
The investigation revealed that on August 8, 2025, a trader was abducted from the Tipu Sultan area and released after promising to pay Rs50 million. Later, the suspects collected Rs8 million in installments as extortion. The case was registered at Tipu Sultan Police Station on August 13.
The case was later transferred to the SIU, which, on October 20, arrested two suspects—Talal Afser alias Major Zafar, son of Muhammad Afser Siddiqui, and Mubashir Gul—from the Boat Basin area.
During interrogation, Talal Afser confessed that he and his associates were using spoofing software to demand extortion, adding that their fake call center business had declined, prompting them to adopt new tactics. Using internet-based spoofing, they would manipulate caller IDs to display fake numbers on victims’ phones, making tracing difficult.
Based on the suspects’ information, SIU police raided the Gulistan-e-Jauhar call center, but the ringleaders—identified as Talha, Hafeez, and Moazzam—managed to flee before the raid. Police seized 12 laptops from the premises and are conducting raids to arrest the remaining suspects, including Shahmeer, Rehman Bajwa, Hani Bhai, Magsi, Dhakkan, Zubair, Asad, Saud, and Faraz.
