MULTAN: In a key operation, Pakistan’s intelligence agencies, in collaboration with the National Cybercrime Investigation Agency (NCCI) Multan, have knocked down a global cybercrime network that was operational in the country.
In the crackdown, five members of a 21-member gang, including Muhammad Aslam, Adeel Aziz, Usama Nawaz, Abdul Moeez, and Shoaib Nazir.
The network, reportedly led by Rameez Shahzad, was found guilty of multi-million dollar fraud targeting foreign nationals, mainly Americans.
Earlier, in the USA, the FBI and Dutch police identified the network’s fraudulent activities and later blocked dozens of scam websites connected to the group.
Officials exposed that Rameez Shahzad, originally from Fatehpur Layyah, had launched cybercrime network in Lahore and Multan.
Rameez Shahzad would frequently travel to Abu Dhabi, where he reportedly collaborated in fraudulent operations. Upon the investigation, luxury vehicles and other high-value assets worth millions were apprehended.
More raids in Lahore resulted in finding a lot of digital evidence, such as mobile phones, laptops, and storage devices.
The suspects are not allowed to travel outside the country, and their names have been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Legal actions have started under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and other important laws. Authorities are also working to find the other members of the group.
Builder.ai, a UK-based Artificial Intelligence company backed by Microsoft, which once had a net worth of $1.5 billion, has filed for bankruptcy, following revelations that behind its ‘artificial neural network’ was a workforce of around 700 engineers operating from India.
The company had marketed its AI-powered app development tool, ‘Natasha’, as a revolutionary system capable of autonomously designing and coding software at high speed.
However, successive investigations exposed that the majority of the development work was performed by human engineers in India, rather than by Artificial Intelligence (AI). –Agencies
