In Aug 2022, I investigated two inter-connected Chinese-origin apps on @GooglePlay that swindle money from Pak and Turkish citizens while falsely pretending to be a solar energy company in Germany.
Receiving multiple DMs from fellow Pakistani citizens who are on the verge of a breakdown. I have advised them to do the needful and lodge complaints with authorities concerned. These people did not carry out due diligence, scammed against promises of 'high profit'.
Both apps use sophisticated forms of deceptive marketing. They claim that their 'head office' is based in Tulpenfeld, Bonn, Germany. The scammers even hired white models (a fake ginger-haired 'CEO') for marketing.
Most importantly, these scammers have fraudulently claimed to be based in Germany and shared forged certificates from @DEKRA_Germany. It is a matter which may interest @GermanyinPAK / @GermanyDiplo.
It appears to be a transnational financial fraud network operating openly.
I've struggled with depression because of multiple setbacks in academic life. If you've done Matriculation in Lahore, you'll know just how tough the competition for merit can get...
I was just another "burger boy" from the UAE when we moved to Pakistan (that's what some class fellows in The Educators called me). It was late 2002 and our family status had changed from 'uber-privileged' to 'broke'...
I didn't have my academic records from Choueifat (Al Ain, UAE) so when my mother pleaded to Choueifat (Lahore, Pak) to give us admission, they couldn't help us. A whole academic year was wasted and we frankly couldn't afford the high fees...
Our team at @projectbaseerat compiled a detailed open source dossier on Iranian media outlets posting vicious coordinated propaganda against Pakistan in 2021.
Tehran Times operates under Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organisation (IIDO) linked to IRGC.
Are bags of wheat donated to flood victims being sold in Sindh? Let's dig deeper to find out using Open Source Intelligence (OSINT).
As always, I will refrain from subjective presumptions and focus strictly on available evidence.
[Thread]
1. The first publicly-accessible photo of the (now infamous) bag of flour, purportedly in Sindh, was posted on Facebook by a Sindhi poet (name withheld).
Exact timestamp: 10 September 2022 @ 11:52pm PST.
Copy of archived link can be shared with accredited journalists only.
Observation: The person who posted the above is neither a PTI nor PML-N sympathiser, and is in fact a staunch Sindhi nationalist famous for his social awareness activities and poetry.
On the 1st of August 2022, @pantellicapk will carve its niche as the host and organiser of Pakistan's first OSINT Championship.
Some thoughts on why we took this step and what the future holds.
(Thread)
OSINT, or Open Source Intelligence, has become a trending buzzword in tech and non-tech circles across the world. From media to the corporate world, nastec to academia, everyone seems to be hyped-up by this term.
Some consider it an exaggerated publicity for advanced Google searching, others consider it as a complement to conventional espionage, and some view it as a distinct domain altogether.
Signatory States to the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct (DCoC) 2017 have agreed a raft of measures to combat new and emerging threats to maritime security.
At the inter-section of Shama Road and Pir Ghazi Road in Icchra, Lahore. The first time I visit a local Internet Café to 'go online'. Inadvertently, the beginning of a self-learning deep dive into the world of Open Source Intelligence/ OSINT.
(Thread)
Moved to Pakistan with my mother and brother a month prior, realising shortly thereafter that our father abandoned us. The UAE was our birthplace and home.
I was 13 at the time. Pakistan was a once-in-two-years spot to visit our maternal family. No particular fondness.
(1/n)
So here I am (Dec 2002), seated in a dusty and decrepit Internet Café a few steps from our first rental home, latter a claustrophobic (windowless) 2-bedroom/ 1-bathroom place on Pir Ghazi Road.