Another week, another scam call centre: NCCIA raids Lahore desk targeting UK victims
Pakistan’s NCCIA has raided yet another illegal call centre in Lahore, this one allegedly posing as telecom providers to defraud victims in the United Kingdom. Nine people were held and laptops and phones loaded with VoIP calling software were seized. It is the latest in a run of near-weekly raids that raises a hard question: why do these operations keep reappearing?
LAHORE: Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has raided yet another alleged illegal call centre in Lahore. This one is accused of defrauding victims abroad, mainly in the United Kingdom, by impersonating telecom service providers.
The agency said on 8 October 2026 that nine suspects were arrested and five laptops and ten mobile phones were seized.
A preliminary examination of the devices found multiple VoIP calling programs allegedly used to place the fraudulent calls.
An FIR has been registered and the investigation continues.
A pattern, not an exception
This is not an isolated bust. It is the latest in a run of NCCIA raids that now arrive almost weekly.
In the past few days alone, the agency has raided the Abbasi Call Center in Rawalpindi, accused of using fake Telegram romances to drain Australians. It has also hit desks in Lahore’s Faisal Town and Johar Town, holding more than three dozen people, and a Telegram investment-scam operation in Lahore where scores were arrested. Before that came a Rawalpindi raid on a Chinese-linked loan-app operation.
The targets change from Britain to Australia to Canada, and the script changes from telecom support to romance to crypto “tasks.” The infrastructure stays the same: rented offices, rows of laptops, VoIP software and young recruits reading from scripts.
Raids are not a strategy
Each raid ends with the same photo of blurred suspects lined up in front of the agency logo. What rarely follows is public word on convictions, recovered money, or the financiers and organisers who rent the premises, supply the victim data and launder the proceeds.
If offices can be shut on a Tuesday and reopen elsewhere the following week, arrests at the desk level are treating symptoms. Overseas victims in the UK, Australia and beyond will judge Pakistan not by the number of raids but by whether the networks behind them are dismantled, prosecuted and kept down.
How the telecom impersonation scam works
Callers pose as broadband or mobile providers and warn of a fault, a hacked router or an account about to be cut off. They then push victims to install remote-access software or hand over banking one-time codes. VoIP tools let the callers spoof local UK numbers so the call looks legitimate.
Genuine providers do not cold-call customers asking for remote access or banking codes. Anyone who gets such a call should hang up and call back on the number printed on their bill.