When Shazia Nazir, a housewife in Gilgit, invested half a million Rs500,000 into an online investment platform she saw on Facebook, she believed she had finally found a path to financial independence. The app promised daily profits, risk-free investing, and even displayed charts showing her growing returns. Then, one morning, the app vanished — and with it, her entire savings.

“I thought it was genuine,” she says quietly. “The app looked professional, and even showed live profit updates. Now, I can’t open it. My money is gone.”

Shazia’s story is becoming all too common in Gilgit-Baltistan — Pakistan’s mountainous northern region that borders China, Afghanistan, and India. Once known for its serene beauty and remote valleys, the region, with a population of two million people, is now grap

See Full Page