The National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) has rescued a 13-year-old girl in Karachi who was allegedly being manipulated by an online network with links to the dark web, following a tip-off from an international intelligence agency.
According to the NCCIA director, the group had been assigning the girl a series of dangerous tasks. For her first task, she was instructed to poison a cat and kill it. The second task was even more alarming: she was reportedly ordered to inflict serious harm on herself. An NCCIA team reached the girl before she could carry it out and immediately informed her parents about the situation.
The agency said the girl’s parents had no knowledge of her online activities or the disturbing instructions she had been receiving. The case has underscored how hidden online networks can quietly draw children into harmful behaviour without their families noticing.
Investigators are now tracing the accounts that contacted the girl in an effort to identify the people behind the network. The NCCIA is also examining whether the same group has targeted other children in Pakistan, suggesting the Karachi case may be part of a wider pattern.
The rescue has intensified concerns about the misuse of online platforms and concealed networks to manipulate minors. Child-safety advocates have long warned that encrypted chats, gaming communities, and obscure corners of the internet give predators new ways to reach children far from public view.
Pakistan’s cybercrime investigators have been handling a growing number of cases involving the online exploitation of minors, from blackmail to dangerous dares. Officials say many parents remain unaware of what their children encounter online, and the gap between children’s digital lives and parental supervision continues to widen.
The case also highlights the increasingly cross-border nature of cybercrime investigations. The initial tip came from an international intelligence agency, and Pakistani investigators routinely coordinate with foreign counterparts and global tech platforms when tracing accounts that operate across jurisdictions. Such cooperation has become essential as offenders exploit servers and services located far from their victims.
The NCCIA, which evolved from the FIA’s cybercrime wing into a dedicated investigation agency, has been expanding its technical capacity to deal with exactly this kind of threat. Officials have repeatedly urged parents to stay involved in their children’s digital lives — knowing which apps they use, who they talk to, and what content they encounter — arguing that early attention from families remains the first line of defence.
The investigation remains active, and further details about the suspects have not yet been disclosed. The NCCIA is expected to share more information as its technical teams complete their tracing of the network’s accounts and digital footprint.
