Islamabad November 14 2023: Pakistan caretaker Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti on Monday informed the Senate that the government had not only blacklisted 111 social media-apps offering online interest based loans but also the Cyber Wing of Federal Investigation Agency confiscated Rs 1.8 billion amount of interest.
Winding up discussion on a motion moved by Senator Mushtaq Ahmed about mushrooming of the social media-apps offering online interest based loans in the country, he said that FIA had also registered cases against those who were running such mobile apps.
Their cases were pending before courts of law, he added. He said that soon after the emergence of the issue, the government had started actions against the apps which were not registered with Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan. However, he said FIA’s capacity regarding cyber-crimes was very limited, adding there were also some law related issues. Earlier, Mushtaq Ahmed said many students and educated peoples had been trapped in the clutches of these social media-apps offering online interest based loans.
Initially the apps offered loans to the students and unemployment people on nominal interest but later, they were forced to pay hefty interest.
