How to File an FIA Cybercrime Complaint in Pakistan

The Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PECA) created a dedicated enforcement route for offences committed through information systems, and the FIA Cybercrime Wing, operating through the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime, is the body that investigates them. The process is more accessible than most people expect. What decides whether a complaint goes anywhere is almost always the quality of the evidence attached to it, and that evidence is easiest to capture in the first hours.

What counts as cybercrime under PECA

PECA covers offences committed through information systems. The categories the FIA sees most often are:

PECA has been amended since 2016, including changes to the regulatory architecture and to certain offences and penalties. The categories above are stable, but do not rely on a specific section number or sentence length quoted in an older article. Verify against the current text or take advice before pleading a specific provision.

Preserve the evidence before you report

This is the step that decides outcomes, and it has to happen before the other side deletes anything.

1. Screenshot everything, showing context. A cropped image of a message is weak. Capture the full screen including the profile URL or handle, the date and time, and the surrounding conversation.
2. Record the identifiers. Profile links, usernames, phone numbers, email addresses, group names, and any bank account or wallet number used.
3. Keep the originals on the device. Do not delete the chat, the email or the message thread. Forensic value sits in the original, not the screenshot.
4. Preserve financial records. For fraud, the transaction ID, timestamp, amount, and the receiving account or wallet.
5. Write a timeline immediately. Dates, times and what happened, in order. Memory degrades fast and inconsistency in later statements is exploited.
6. Do not engage further. Continuing to argue with a blackmailer or fraudster contaminates the record and escalates risk.

Where money has just left your account, act on the banking channel in parallel and immediately - speed matters far more there. See our guide to bank fraud and OTP scams.

The three ways to file

1. Online through the FIA complaint portal

The FIA operates an online complaint facility for cybercrime. You will be asked for your particulars, a description of the incident and the opportunity to upload evidence. Write the description as a plain chronological narrative: what happened, when, who, and what you want investigated. Upload your screenshots and records. Save the complaint or tracking number the system issues.

2. By phone on 1991

1991 is the FIA cybercrime helpline. It is the right first call for urgent situations, particularly blackmail and sextortion where a threat is live, and for being directed to the correct reporting centre. Note the time of the call and the name of whoever you spoke to.

3. In person at a cybercrime reporting centre

For serious matters, in-person filing is usually the most effective. You can produce original devices for inspection, give a proper statement and obtain an acknowledgement. Take your CNIC, printed evidence and the device itself. Our list of FIA cybercrime offices covers where to go.

Whichever route you use, get something in writing - a complaint number, an acknowledgement, or at minimum a dated note of the call. Following up on an unnumbered complaint is close to impossible.

What happens after you file

In broad outline:

1. Scrutiny. The complaint is assessed to see whether it discloses a PECA offence and falls within FIA jurisdiction. Matters that are purely contractual disputes dressed up as fraud tend to be filtered here.
2. Enquiry. An enquiry may be opened, the complainant called to record a statement, and evidence collected - including requests to service providers and banks for data.
3. Registration of a case. Where the enquiry supports it, a case is registered and investigation proceeds.
4. Court. The matter goes before the court with jurisdiction over PECA offences.

Realistic expectations matter. Cases involving traceable local accounts and clear evidence move fastest. Cases turning on data held by foreign platforms are slower, because they depend on the platform's response to lawful requests. Anonymous offenders using foreign infrastructure are the hardest of all.

Report to the platform at the same time

The FIA route and the platform route are independent, and running both improves outcomes. Platform reporting is generally the fastest way to get harmful content taken down, while the FIA route is how a person is held to account.

• Meta, Instagram, TikTok, X and YouTube all have reporting flows for impersonation, harassment and non-consensual intimate imagery. Non-consensual intimate imagery is normally treated as a priority category.
• Report from the offending content itself rather than a general help page, so the report carries the correct identifiers.
• Screenshot before reporting. A successful takedown removes your evidence too.
• Pakistan Telecommunication Authority maintains its own complaint channel for certain categories of unlawful online content.

Mistakes that sink complaints

• Deleting the evidence. Understandable with distressing content, fatal to the case. Preserve first.
• Paying a blackmailer. It funds and encourages escalation and almost never ends the demand.
• Confronting the offender. It warns them to delete accounts and wipe evidence.
• Waiting. Platform logs and account data do not persist indefinitely.
• Filing a vague narrative. "Someone is harassing me online" without handles, dates or screenshots is very difficult to action.
• Dressing up a civil dispute. A business disagreement or unpaid debt is not electronic fraud simply because it was arranged over WhatsApp. Where the real remedy is civil, see our note on recovery suits.

When a lawyer is worth it

Many straightforward complaints can be filed without one. Take advice where:

• You are being blackmailed and need the situation handled without your identity spreading further.
• The matter involves a business, employees or significant money and may need parallel civil action.
• An enquiry has stalled and needs to be pushed.
• You have been accused under PECA and need to respond to a notice.
• Content needs removing urgently and platform reporting has failed.

A properly drafted complaint that identifies the conduct, attaches indexed evidence and states the relief sought is treated very differently from a paragraph of narrative.

Frequently asked questions