On the surface, Pakistan’s call centres industry paints a hopeful picture. With fluent English speakers and a youth population in need of financial assistance, the country has been positioning itself as a low-cost outsourcing destination for international businesses.

But what happens when these call centres stop solving problems and start becoming the problem?

Look around yourself, how are 20-21-year-olds earning more than a mid-career professional these days? That too, without completing their educational degrees? It’s because Pakistan’s call centre industries are recruiting more and more young students and offering them sky-high pay scales in exchange for their morals.

In recent years, Pakistan’s call centre industry has developed a double life. On the surface, it seems like any corporate office, but at its core, it’s a breeding ground for fraud of millions of dollars from unsuspecting victims abroad.

Call Centres or Fraud Centres?

Ask yourself this question, how are these young kids earning so much? What type of a job is this that they are able to afford such grand salary packages despite the inflation? 100k a month? Took so many of us years to reach this stage. This is the first giveaway that something suspicious is happening at the back end.

These call centres exist sometimes in some of the most posh areas of Pakistan, like DHA. With high security and a fortress-like structure, they operate in the open, with the pseudo business entity of a “software house”. Sounds familiar? Yes, do a background check on the “software house” or “BPO”, the kids around you are going to. In the recent, Mustafa Amir case, Armughan’s fake “software house” unraveled a chain of such businesses in Pakistan. The ones that start with leisure perks and end up in the circles of drugs and murder, in or out of Pakistan.

Oh, by the way, did you know? Armughan earned 17 billion Pakistani Rupees in fraudulent money from his scam call centre. All this money from poor people who were too naive.

Don’t get me wrong, many legitimate call centres also exist in Pakistan. They employ thousands, offer decent salaries (by local standards), and provide services ranging from IT support to lead generation for international firms. But in the shadows of this formal sector, an informal and dangerous counterpart is growing.

According to whistleblowers and insiders, these scam operations don’t even try to hide their intentions. In some shady offices disguised as “customer service centres,” employees are trained to impersonate law enforcement agents, bank officers, or tech support staff from companies like Amazon, Microsoft, or even the IRS.

Yes, THE IRS, the foreign tax department that is impersonated in a basement of Karachi or Lahore.

How Call Centre Scams Work? 

Let’s say you get a call from someone claiming to be from “Microsoft” or “Amazon”. The person on the line sounds professional and speaks in a near-native accent. They inform you of a virus on your computer or a suspicious login on your account. Worried, you follow their instructions and give them remote access. Within minutes, your device is compromised, and your data is either stolen or you’re forced to pay a hefty fee to “clean” your system. They also have the means to get your card details too, without your consent

Sounds fictional? It is not. According to an extensive report, this is the bread and butter of scam call centres operating under the radar in Pakistan.

And the worst part? The scammer might not even be some criminal mastermind. It could be a teenager working night shifts, paid by the call, not the conscience.

The former employees of these fraud factories have shared disturbing insights:

• Fresh graduates and job-seekers are often unaware they’re joining scam operations. They are lured by attractive salaries and foreign clients.
• Some call centres run night shifts targeting US citizens during their daytime hours, making cold calls with fraudulent intentions.
• Employees are trained to manipulate emotions, use fake names like “David” or “Sophia”, and pressure targets into giving up sensitive data.

What’s more troubling? In many cases, the lines between legal and illegal aren’t very clear. Some companies start as legitimate but begin shady operations on the side for “extra revenue”.

Victims of Call Centres on Both Ends

The true tragedy is that this industry creates victims on both ends of the line.

The foreign targets lose their money and trust. But the young Pakistanis lured into these operations? They lose their integrity. Many don’t even realise what they’re doing is illegal until it’s too late. Others are stuck in a system that rewards deceit over decency.

Some ex-employees have spoken out, revealing that they were hired without clear job descriptions and later pressured into making scam calls under fake identities. Some of these scam calls promoted the selling of products that were harmful, lethal and were even deadly in some cases.

A heavy price to pay for a paycheck.