FIA summons Binance representative in multibillion crypto scam

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has issued a notice to summon representatives of a global cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, in a multibillion rupees scam, official sources said on Friday.

It was the first time that the local investigation agency engaged the international cryptocurrency exchange in a scam.

According to details some mobile applications were offering Pakistanis to invest in the virtual currency. These applications were linked to Binance, the leading virtual platform for buying and selling Bitcoins and other similar cryptocurrencies.

However, these applications suddenly vanished and investment of around Rs18 billion made by Pakistanis were lost.

The FIA officials said these applications were facilitating money transfers for making investment in cryptocurrency. The cybercrime wing of the FIA received a number of complaints against the scam.

The FIA summoned a local representative of the Binance to appear physically before the authorities on January 10, 2022.

The investigation authorities believed the transactions made by these applications were used for money laundering and terror financing.

The authorities said the unique way was adopted for fraudulent activity. The persons who launched the applications had connections with the crypto exchange.

The FIA issued the notice to Hamza Khan, the local representative of Binance. The investigation agency said it had received a number of complaints regarding an online financial scam in Pakistan, affecting thousands of victims from different cities of the county involving various fraudulent applications robbing innocent people of millions of dollars.

“During the inquiry, it was found that the fraudulent accounts of different applications namely, MCX, HFC, HTFOX, FXCOPY, OKMINI, BB001, AVG86C, BX66, 91fp, TASKTOK, were linked with Binance wallets,” the officials said.

It is noted that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) through a circular issued in 2018 informed the general public that it had not authorised or licensed any individual or entity for the issuance, sale, purchase, or investment in any such virtual currencies, coins, tokens in Pakistan.

Recently, a report released by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) revealed that Pakistanis had a staggering $20 billion worth of assets in cryptocurrencies.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has also launched a probe into the investment in the cryptocurrencies to identify investors and their source of investment.

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