P@SHA Urges NCCIA to Distinguish Legitimate IT Firms from Scam Centers

The Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) has raised serious concerns over an increasing number of raids by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) on legitimate software and IT-enabled services companies as part of the ongoing crackdown on scam centers.

P@SHA has urged the NCCIA to clearly distinguish between legitimate call centers and IT companies and scam operations, stressing that the two are fundamentally different and that legitimate businesses should not be treated as scam centers. The association stated that Pakistan's IT industry fully supports the law and recognizes the importance of law enforcement, cybercrime investigations, and accountability, but stressed that such actions must be carried out within a clearly defined legal framework, ensuring due process, transparency, and proportionality.

The association warned that enforcement measures that disrupt legitimate business operations, restrict access to essential work equipment, or create uncertainty for businesses can cause significant damage to Pakistan's technology ecosystem. While scam centers that defraud citizens in Pakistan and abroad damage the country's reputation and directly hurt legitimate IT exporters, P@SHA said it had received complaints from member companies about NCCIA teams entering offices without presenting warrants, holding and questioning employees for hours, and taking laptops, servers, and mobile phones into custody even when no unlawful activity was found. Such actions disrupt client services, put confidential foreign client data at risk, and create fear among employees and investors.

P@SHA highlighted that the IT sector is one of the few industries in Pakistan's economy recording consistent annual growth of around 20 percent. IT exports reached a record $4.6 billion in FY2025-26, up from $3.8 billion a year earlier. The government has set an export target of $10 billion by FY2028-29 under Uraan Pakistan, alongside a broader national goal of $15 billion. Freelance exports alone grew by around 51 percent during the first nine months of FY2025-26.

"Every single dollar is earned on trust," said Dr. Shoab Ahmed Khan, Chairman of P@SHA. "A foreign client who hears that his vendor's office was raided and its servers taken away does not wait for the forensic report. He moves the contract to India, the Philippines or Eastern Europe. The fraudsters lose a call center, but Pakistan loses a market."

P@SHA also reminded the authorities that the IT industry supports a wider ecosystem. Pakistan produces more than 70,000 computing graduates every year, while families invest their savings in their children's education and universities and the Higher Education Commission develop programs around industry demand.