Rawalpindi-The cyber crime wing of Federal Investigation Agency, Rawalpindi is investigating against a man pretending to be a US national and his accomplices for allegedly swindling money from a Pakistani girl by luring her for marriage and taking her to the United States, official sources told The Nation on Monday.

Deputy Director Cyber Crime assigned the task to Additional Director Farooq for bringing the fraudsters to the book, as per a copy of the inquiry order available with The Nation.

According to sources, a girl, Saima Shakoor, resident of Attock, lodged a complaint with the FIA, stating that Tariq Ahmed Khan had befriended her through a matrimonial website and told her that he was a doctor and settled in the US. She said that Tariq proposed her for marriage which she accepted. She said that she also added Tariq on her social media account and started chatting with him. She alleged that one day Tariq phoned her and asked her to transfer Rs4,35,000 in bank account of his friend, Mark Gibson, as he had to pay to a company from which he had purchased medical equipment.

“I was contacted by Mark Gibson from his cell with the same request which I accepted and transferred the amount” Saima Shakoor mentioned in the complaint. She also shared with the FIA the names of other gang members including Dawood, ZakaUllah and Abida Rehmat.

The complainant said that after swindling the money, Tariq and other gang members switched off their cell phones. She alleged that Tariq had also posted her personal pictures on social media and was also blackmailing her to keep mum over his fraud.

Saima Shakoor requested the FIA to initiate action against the accused and recover her looted amount.

Sources also disclosed that the FIA investigators have written a letter to the managements of the banks seeking transaction details and have obtained the call record data of the accused as part of their probe. Similarly, the officials of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad have also been approached by the investigators to collect information about Tariq and his crime partner Mark Gibson.

Talking to The Nation, Saima Shakoor said that the FIA Cyber Crime Wing had not been cooperating with her. She said that no case was registered against the accused despite passage of 2 years. She appealed State Minister of Interior Sheryar Afridi and DG FIA Bashir Memon to come forward to provide her with justice.

“The Inquiry is underway and legal action will soon be taken against the accused,” said Assistant Director Farooq, who is investigating the case, when contacted by The Nation.