Last week reports started pouring in that the owner of an e-commerce store called Saqiscity.com was taken into custody and this has been a series of arrests over the past few months by FIA. The most notable one was of e2Click.com‘s owner. The bill to regulate cybercrime is in full swing from the looks and is actively utilized in raiding suspicious websites.
Sadly, we Pakistanis have a way around for everything. From weighing in the wrong measure to diluting milk with water to feeding public; donkey/dog meat and this has been very much the talk of the recent past, how could the online world be allowed to stay safe for users? This is not to say that everywhere else in the world there are no cybercrime laws but no sir! We had to make our mark in this department as well. If not, there would still be one less crime to worry in Pakistan.
There is nothing Saqi in Saqiscity.com because the website has been deceiving users via its fraudulent of a store. The hue and cry were brought to light when the customers of the said store took it to the social media and raised concerns/lodged complaints against Saqiscity.com stating that their orders were still pending despite the store having received the payments. E-commerce stores are thriving in Pakistan or anywhere due to their stellar customer support and ease of browsing products from the comfort of your sofa but what good is the comfort when the trust is shattered by not having received your product/item? Not having felt it in your hands, the sensation of it? What good is it?
There were reports that the e-tail store had stopped operating a month prior (maybe it was the e2Click.com episode that made them call it quits), either way, the crackdown and the subsequent arrest has the public’s faith restored in FIA Cyber Crime Unit. The move is commendable because we all know how our law enforcing agencies cause trouble to innocent civilians than apprehend the actual culprits (all I’m saying is, that it’s a rarity). People have breathed a sigh of relief but the payments will have to be reimbursed to the concerned parties, and on that an official statement was released by the agency following the arrest:
“ This website is being used an online fraudulent shopping transaction from the innocent peoples, hence FIA Cyber Crime Circle Karachi arrested the owner and registered case FIR No 37/2015 of this alleged website.”
“ We have initiated the proceedings and only a court of law can recover the money.”
It is no secret that Pakistan has observed plenty of boom in the e-commerce over the last couple of years and such underhanded tactics are usually employed by those who seek to benefit from the surge in the hopes of a shortcut. According to sources, this sector is currently valued at over $60 million dollars and by 2020 will surpass $1 billion.
FIA has urged the public to contact NR3C for complaint registration under e-commerce fraud, identity theft or any cyber crime of the sort. The message which presently reads at Saqiscity URL is as follows:
This website is being used an online fraudulent shopping transaction from the innocent peoples, hence FIA Cyber Crime Circle Karachi arrested the owner and registered case FIR No 37/2015 of this alleged website.
FIA Cyber Crime contact information is as under:
Email : comp.khi@nr3c.gov.pk
Phone number : 021-99249650-2
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