ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has seen a massive increase in harassment, profanity and anti-religion content, and complaints of child pornography over the past three years, according to official figures compiled by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The biggest increase on record was recorded last year when the FIA ​​registered 260 complaints per day, reaching a figure of over 94,500 complaints in 2020. The FIA, the only state authority to deal with crimes in line, has a low processing capacity of 12 to 15 complaints. per day, which officials say means thousands of serious complaints go unanswered for months.

These complaints ranged in nature from minor cyber crimes like identity theft, spamming to serious allegations like child pornography, sexual harassment, anti-government, financial fraud, hacking, defamation and the list goes on. . The FIA ​​has received 159,187 complaints (147 complaints per day) over the past three years, where the agency recorded a 60% increase in complaints in 2020 compared to 48,301 complaints in 2019 after 16,122 complaints registered in 2018 .

Receiving complaints from 26 categories, the authority was handling a record 44,481 financial fraud complaints involving millions of rupees. The agency received 22,256 harassment complaints, according to official figures made available exclusively by The Geo News. Most of the complaints were made by women workers against their colleagues or acquaintances.

Likewise, the FIA ​​registered 1,467 complaints against those who uploaded blasphemous content on social networks or websites. The agency also filed 1,479 complaints against anti-religious content. There is slow progress in both of these categories (blasphemous and anti-religion content), FIA officials say, calling it a very sensitive topic. The FIA ​​also filed 280 complaints against pornography and 103 complaints were registered against those accused of child pornography. No less than 103 complaints have been filed against those who published anti-government articles on social networks.

Around 111,000 complaints have been processed while 50,000 complaints have not yet been resolved, according to official figures. Some 100,357 complaints closed in 2020, 1,808 in 2019 and 9,263 in 2018, added the figures. The FIA’s cybercrime wing received 14,974 hacking complaints, 10,358 defamation complaints, 6,601 false profiles, 9,201 unauthorized access and 5,320 blackmail complaints.

It registered 2,145 complaints of threats, 3,019 of a miscellaneous nature, 2,678 of online shopping, 1,970 complaints of harassment. The agency recorded 1,252 complaints against identity theft, 814 against online employment fraud, 663 against identity theft, 612 against lottery fraud, 450 against online banking fraud , 361 against spamming, 395 against illegal SIMs, 59 complaints against BISP cheaters, 149 complaints against phishing and 92 complaints were filed against defendants of digital currency.

The various FIA zones received 36,700 complaints from the city of Lahore, 22,386 from Karachi, 20,701 from Islamabad, 15,891 from Rawalpindi, 1,599 from Multan, 12, 145 from Faisalabad, 8,792 Gujranwala, 6,605 from Peshawar , 4,955 from Hyderabad, 4,950 from Abbottabad, 2,105 DI Khan, 412 from GB, 184 Gwadar and 1,186 complaints were received from Sukkur, according to official data.

Official data further revealed that the FIA ​​received 42,357 complaints from Facebook, 17,693 complaints were from WhatApp, 14,109 complaints were from emails, 8,618 were from phones, 6,308 were from other media. social, 5, 563 complaints from websites and the rest from other sources.

Official figures further revealed that 20,066 gadgets used in cybercrime were seized. Some 24 FIRs have been registered against children accused of child abuse and 26 offenders have been arrested in such cases. Over 2,474 data reports obtained from NADRA and private and public sector banks. The FIA ​​responded to 191 of the 221 requests received from foreign jurisdictions. The agency also generated six requests for assistance from various foreign jurisdictions.

36700 complaints received from Lahore, 22386 from Karachi, 20701 from Islamabad, 15891 from Rawalpindi, 1599 from Multan, 12145 from Faisalabad, 8792 Gujranwala, 6605 from Peshawar, 4955 from Hyderabad, 4950 from Abbottabad, 2105 DI Khan, 412 from GB, 184 Gwadar and 1186 de Sukkur.