KARACHI: A young man from Peshawar has claimed that he was forced to transfer a massive sum of cryptocurrency while inside the Jinnah International Airport, a claim the airport authorities have denied.
According to 22-year-old Faizyab Hussain, he was coerced into transferring $850,000 from his digital wallet while inside the terminal. He alleged that part of the amount — nearly $3.6 million — belonged to him while the rest was investors’ money.
However, the Airport Security Force (ASF) and airport management have rejected the allegation, saying no such incident took place and that CCTV footage shows nothing unusual.
Faizyab, on the other hand, talking to Nukta, insisted the wrong footage was shown to him by the airport authorities.
He said that he was receiving threats and fbeing ollowed since speaking out. “They only showed me footage of myself sitting in one spot,” he said, claiming that airport officials were unwilling to cooperate.
His lawyer, Waseem Raza Naqvi, said that despite repeated attempts, police refused to register a case. “When we decided to file a court petition, my client received threatening calls,” he said.
According to Waseem, the caller allegedly warned Faizyab to back off, saying they knew details about his movements and the car he was travelling in. “The threats often come from international numbers, including the UK,” the lawyer added.
Faizyab said he had travelled to Karachi from Peshawar for a crypto-related meeting, but before returning home, his Binance account, Gmail, and recovery email were all hacked and blocked.
The incident has raised concerns about cybercrime and personal security at the Karachi airport, while authorities maintain that no evidence has surfaced to substantiate the claims.
The loss is devastating — a single phone held access to a massive crypto wallet, and once stolen, the perpetrators swiftly transferred the funds. With cryptocurrency transactions nearly impossible to reverse, such thefts leave victims with little recourse. The $850,000 loss underscores how vulnerable high-value digital assets can be without robust security safeguards.