There was a time when travellers feared the open road. In eighteenth and nineteenth-century, looters raided caravans. Then came the era of street muggers, and wallets and cash were the main prey. Cell phone became the next target.
Centuries have passed, but the principle has not changed. Only the streets have.
Today’s streets are invisible: the banking apps on our phones, the digital wallets we carry, the online marketplaces where we shop. Billions of transactions travel these roads every day, and just as in centuries past, robbers wait along the route. They no longer wear shawls or carry knives. They hide behind convincing calls, texts and emails, and they no longer stop your carriage; they simply persuade you to open the door yourself.
The numbers show how fast this crime has grown. Cybercrime complaints in Pakistan rose by roughly 35 percent in 2025 according to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, while the State Bank recorded a 62 percent jump in digital banking fraud cases the year before. Visa’s research suggests nearly one in two Pakistanis had already encountered some form of online financial fraud by 2024, with one in five targeted more than once.
In Pakistan generally two scripts turn up again and again. In one, a caller claims to be from police or FIA’s cyber wing, and announces that a “case” is registered against you, and makes demands for money to make it disappear. In the other, a text claims your courier parcel is stuck at customs over an unpaid “clearance fee”, with a link that quietly harvests your card details the moment you try to pay it. By the time you discover the fraud it is too late.
Perhaps the greatest misconception everyone has is that this happens only to the careless. Fraudsters study their targets and personalize their approach. I myself receive regular invites to an AI conference that keeps shifting from Zurich to Hong Kong to the US, always terribly impressed by work I never claimed to be an expert in. The only reason it has not cost me anything is that I know exactly what I don’t know.
Banks repeatedly remind customers that they will never ask for passwords, PINs or OTPs through unsolicited calls, emails or texts. Yet fraudsters keep succeeding because they manufacture urgency that overrides judgement, impersonating customer service agents, government officials, courier companies and even family members. The goal is always the same; to gain trust, then take the money.
Financial institutions are not standing still. Dedicated anti-fraud teams now run around the clock, using artificial intelligence and real-time monitoring to flag suspicious transactions within seconds, working with regulators and law enforcement to dismantle organized fraud rings. Warning to customers through all available media.
But the most reliable safeguard remains your own presence of mind. Strong passwords, multi-factor authentication, regular account monitoring and verifying communications through official channels are no longer just good habits; they are in fact essential precautions for navigating today’s financial highways. For some people there is the belief that this will not happen to me. The most misguided thought that helps fraudsters trap the overconfident.
Roads have always connected people to opportunity, and the digital highways of this century are no different. But every highway attracts traffic of every kind, and among honest travellers there will always be those looking to exploit others. The challenge, then, is not to fear the road, but to travel wisely. So the next time your phone rings with someone demanding urgent action, ask yourself: Is this really a highwayman asking you to stand and deliver?
(The writer is a well-known columnist)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
The writer is a well-known columnist
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