Fake Social Media Profiles
Cloned profiles are often used for fraud or harassment. PECA section 16 (identity information) and section 26 (spoofing) are common statutory references; content that harms dignity may engage section 20.
Platform vs criminal process
Platform takedowns are faster for removing a page but do not replace a criminal complaint when fraud or serious harm occurred. Capture evidence before the fake account is removed.
Applicable PECA provisions
Links open LawHub’s National corpus text for PECA 2016. Read the full section before relying on a short label.
Evidence checklist
- Profile URLs and unique profile IDs if visible
- Messages sent to victims from the fake account
- Payment requests originating from the impersonation
Practical next steps
- Report to the platform and preserve URLs.
- Collect victim statements if others were contacted.
- Consider NCCIA filing for fraud or harassment patterns.
Related cybercrime topics
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Sources & provenance
- The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 (Pakistan Code consolidation) — Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of Pakistan (Pakistan Code). National corpus consolidation_date 2025-02-07; source_id pakistancode-peca-2016.
- Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act, 2025 (Act No. II of 2025) — Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament) / Senate Secretariat gazette publication. Presidential assent and Gazette Extra. publication 29 January 2025; [94(2025)/Ex. Gaz.].
- NCCIA online complaint portal — National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (complaint.nccia.gov.pk). Host complaint.nccia.gov.pk resolves on the public DNS (Cloudflare). Bot fetches may receive HTTP 403; users should open the official domain in a browser and follow current on-site instructions.
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