ISLAMABAD: The Ehsaas Programme and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have joined hands against swindlers who are defrauding Ehsaas beneficiaries.

In this regard, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection, Senator Dr Sania Nishtar and FIA Director-General Dr Sanaullah Abbasi held a special meeting on Tuesday to strengthen coordination against fraudulent deductions in the field, cybercrimes, scams, fake websites, fake SMS, fake WhatsApp messages, fake apps, defrauding the poor, particularly Ehsaas beneficiaries, APP reported.

Read more: FIA arrests three suspects for withdrawing others’ money from Ehsaas Programme

During the meeting, it was decided that the miscreants and scammers who swindled innocent people out of money would be dealt with strictly.

“In fight against corruption, Ehsaas is making every effort with the help of the FIA to curb frauds and scams in the name of Ehsaas. In this regard, a series of meetings will also be held every week between the Ehsaas and FIA to exchange new insights of cases”, Dr Sania said. This weekly meeting will be attended by Dr Sania and the DG FIA.

“We will lend full support to Ehsaas to punish fraudsters”, Sanaullah Abbasi vowed.

The director Cybercrimes Wing at FIA has also been assigned with the task to consolidate various cases along with updates against each and share these with both FIA HQs and Ehsaas before the next meeting.

Read more: FIA arrests four suspects for frauding people under the name of Ehsaas Kafaalat

Later, a follow-up meeting also took place between senior officials of Ehsaas and FIA headquarters to share updates of cases under process with the FIA. Banking consultants and SBP officials were also present in the meeting.

The meeting also held discussions on problems being faced by Ehsaas team during disbursements, as well as on insights from FIA on new cases being unearthed. The FIA also shared the practices adopted by the retailers of partner banks of Ehsaas to lure beneficiaries.