Pakistan, Sept. 4 -- Blocking 18.2 million illegal SIMs in two and a half years should have substantially narrowed one of the channels available to Pakistan's fraudsters. The National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior and Narcotics Control has instead been told that illegally issued connections remain central to fraudulent calls and banking scams, while criminals are stealing fingerprints and renting bank accounts through which to move the proceeds. A recent Multan raid yielded 195 active SIMs and 81 ATM cards. In joint operations, the PTA and National Cyber Crime Investigation have raided 110 facilities, blocked another 29,000 SIMs, arrested 171 suspects and recovered data belonging to an astonishing 600,000 individuals.

These fig...