The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), working with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), has intensified enforcement against illegal SIM activation in Karachi, following a complaint filed by PTA’s Zonal Office.
Acting on the complaint, NCCIA raided a telecom franchise in Al Falah Society, Shah Faisal Colony, seizing suspected devices and arresting three people, including the franchise owner and manager. An FIR has been registered and investigations are ongoing, according to officials familiar with the operation.
This crackdown is part of a broader nationwide push to curb SIM-related fraud that fuels phishing, financial scams, and grey-telecom activity. In recent weeks, parliament’s Standing Committee on Parliamentary Affairs was briefed that NCCIA has ramped up coordination with PTA to tackle the misuse of illegal SIMs, an area linked to rising online fraud, including scams exploiting welfare beneficiaries.
The Karachi action follows a string of PTA–NCCIA raids this summer. In July, authorities said they had broken up networks involved in unauthorized SIM issuance and grey-telecom operations, with arrests made following raids that traced illegal activations to multiple franchises. Separately, a PTA report last month described a case in which investigators recovered large caches of biometric data and seized dozens of BVS devices tied to illicit SIM sales.
Authorities say enforcement will continue against any outlet found issuing SIMs in violation of Pakistan’s KYC and biometric verification regime, and have urged the public to report suspicious activity to PTA and NCCIA hotlines. Further updates are expected as the Karachi investigation proceeds.