ISLAMABAD: The cybercrime wing of the Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) launched a money laundering probe against famous TikTok actor Hareem Shah after a video showing her admitting to bringing wads of British currency from Karachi to the United Kingdom went viral on the internet.
Shah, whose real name is Fizza Hussain, posted the video on January 11 at 2:45 pm but deleted it after it went viral, prompting the agency to take legal action against her.
Shah traveled to the UK via Doha by Qatar Airways from the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on January 10, Amir Farooqui, Sindh director for the agency, told Arab News.
“We have registered a case against her and started investigating the alleged money laundering after watching the confessional video,” the publication quoted Farooqui as saying.
Imran Riaz, head of the Sindh chapter of authority’s cybercrime wing, tweeted that “a [legal] notice is being issued to her to explain her position [on the matter]”.
A communiqué issued by the agency said it had also decided to write to the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK to initiate action against Shah.
“The illegal transfer of money comes under the orbit of money laundering,” the handout read, observing that a stash of money could also be seen in the video.
In the video, the actor appears to be “acknowledging the offence of money laundering and denying it later on and terming it as a ‘fun video'”, Riaz said.
He said the video was an “act of ridiculing, disrupting and defaming […] Pakistan as well as state institutions using cyberspace” and, therefore, “comes under the preview of glorification of the offence of money laundering”.
An often controversial figure, Shah rose to fame in 2019 when she shared a video of herself in the Foreign Office on TikTok. Her name has since been making headlines, with millions of followers and views on her videos.
