Online Scams in Pakistan
“Online scam” is a plain-language label for many deceptive schemes. Pakistani criminal analysis usually maps the facts onto PECA provisions such as electronic fraud, forgery, identity misuse, or stalking — not onto the English word “scam” itself.
Mapping scam stories to PECA categories
A fake investment page that induces deposits may engage section 14. A cloned identity used to open accounts may engage section 16. Impersonation via spoofed profiles may engage section 26. Always read the statutory text on LawHub’s PECA provision pages rather than relying on scam nicknames.
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
- Ad creatives, landing-page URLs, and archived screenshots
- Payment proofs and beneficiary details
- Contact channels used by the scammer
Practical next steps
- Stop further payments and secure your devices.
- Preserve evidence and review the report-online-fraud guide.
- File through the official NCCIA complaint channel if appropriate.
Related cybercrime topics
Find a cyber crime lawyer
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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.