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Diamonds and drones: Pakistan tax unit scans social media for evasion
Business World Philippines
|September 25, 2025
Diamonds, drones, DJs, and databases
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Diamond sets and a drone light show at a near-million-dollar wedding have become evidence for Pakistan’s tax authorities under a new “Lifestyle Monitoring Cell” tasked with scanning social media for lavish spenders, officials said.
A team of 40 investigators from the country’s Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has started scouring Instagram, TikTok and YouTube posts this week, to match influencers, celebrities, realtors and businesspeople with disproportionate filings.
“It’s open-source — their Instagram accounts are a public declaration,” one senior FBR official said, adding tax evasion cases can be opened up ina matter of hours. The FBR did not respond toa Reuters request for comment.
This story is from the September 25, 2025 edition of Business World Philippines.
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