In the last three years, the Federal Investigative Agency has received 386,602 complaints pertaining to cybercrime, which indicates an increase in digital offenses throughout Pakistan.
The report states that the FIA Cyber Crime Wing received 115,868 complaints in 2021 and 136,024 complaints in 2022, a 17 percent rise. The total dropped by 1% in 2023 to 134,710 complaints.
The FIA investigated 48,158 cybercrime-related cases in total over the course of three years. The agency received 15,766 queries in 2021; in 2022, that number dropped to 14,380, a 9 percent decrease. Still, in 2023, there was a 25% increase in queries, totaling 18,012.
In the same manner, from 2021 to 2023, the FIA recorded 4,067 First Information Reports (FIRs). 1,223 FIRs were filed in 2021; in 2022, that number increased by 20% to 1,469 FIRs. But in 2023, there were just 1,375 FIRs, a 6 percent drop from the previous year.
Over the course of three years, there was a noticeable increase in convictions, with a total of 178 in 2023. The agency obtained 38 convictions in 2021; by 2022, that number had risen to 48, a 26% increase. Convictions increased by a staggering 92% in 2023, totaling 92 convictions.
Acquittals over this time period totaled 367, with a remarkable 101 percent increase from 88 in 2021 to 177 in 2022, and a 42 percent reduction to 102 in 2023.
