KARACHI: The digital payments landscape in Pakistan is facing another massive disruption. The fintech giants, JazzCash and easypaisa, have completely suspended payment collection services for all payment aggregators.
This sweeping action targets illegal online gambling and betting operations across the country.
Consequently, JazzCash and easypaisa halted these channels following strict instructions from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The sudden suspension severely impacts major payment intermediaries. Companies like Simpaisa and others can no longer process digital transactions for various online platforms. Previously, online gambling networks relied heavily on these aggregators to seamlessly collect funds from local users.
Now, they have completely lost access to Pakistan’s top mobile wallet channels. As a result, their financial operations face complete paralysis.
FIA Broadens the Digital Gambling Probe
This aggressive suspension follows deep investigations into a staggering PKR 120 billion digital gambling syndicate. As TechJuice reported earlier, the FIA Faisalabad branch traced nearly PKR 119.93 billion routed directly through local branchless banking systems. During that initial enforcement wave, JazzCash abruptly closed over 100 aggregator accounts. Meanwhile, easypaisa dealt with massive settlement delays affecting six major payment firms and international processors like dLocal.
Investigators recently discovered that criminals utilized 11 single-member shell companies to funnel illicit money. They processed millions of transactions for massive betting platforms including U7777 Game, B9 Game, and S9 Game. Ultimately, the network processed PKR 8.586 billion through just five collection accounts.
Corporate Insiders & Compliance Failures
The sophisticated syndicate did not operate alone. Ongoing investigations explicitly implicated corporate insiders at easypaisa. Scammers allegedly collaborated with these officials to open fictitious corporate accounts under bogus companies. Furthermore, the criminals deployed dummy websites to bypass standard compliance checks successfully.
Once the accounts were active, the group disguised betting payments as standard commercial transfers.
Subsequently, they moved billions through local microfinance banks into major commercial institutions like Faysal Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank. Ultimately, the perpetrators laundered the funds out of Pakistan using digital hawala operations and cryptocurrency networks.
Uncertain Future for JazzCash & Easypaisa Amid FIA Probe
Currently, internal regulatory compliance processes remain strictly underway at both fintech companies. The complete suspension of payment collection services remains fully in force. Moreover, there is no confirmed timeline for service restoration for the affected aggregators.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) previously rolled out a strict regulatory framework for payment intermediaries in May 2026. The central bank demanded robust monitoring of all financial flows. Therefore, this latest FIA intervention reinforces a harsh new reality for the industry. Regulators and law enforcement agencies are actively treating mobile wallet intermediaries as the primary frontline against illicit financial networks.
