Fake arms licence websites: NADRA warns Punjab applicants to use the official portal

NADRA has warned people in Punjab about fake websites that claim to process civilian arms licences, saying they charge excessive fees and put applicants' personal data at risk, ARY News reported on Tuesday. The authority said most unofficial arms licence websites are likely fake and asked applicants to use verified official channels only.

"Arms license Punjab" is searched about 1,300 times a month in Pakistan, according to Semrush, which is exactly the traffic these sites try to catch.

The official portal

Punjab arms licences are applied for through NADRA's portal at pal.nadra.gov.pk, which the Punjab Home Department named as the official platform when it exposed a copycat site in March 2025, Profit reported. That fake, titled "Punjab Arms License Management Verification System", used its own domain, several phone numbers and mobile wallet accounts to take payments. The department asked the PTA and the FIA's cybercrime wing to block it.

How to tell a fake

• Check the address. A government portal ends in .gov.pk. A .com, .org or .pk address with "Punjab" or "NADRA" in the name is not proof of anything.
• No wallet payments to people. A site that asks you to send money to a personal JazzCash, Easypaisa or bank account is a scam.
• No "agent fee" to skip the queue. Official fees are set by the government; anyone offering a faster licence for extra money is not official.
• Do not send CNIC pictures on WhatsApp to a number that found you through an advert.

If you already paid a fake site

1. Call your bank or wallet provider at once and ask them to block the transaction.
2. Keep screenshots of the website, the payment receipt and any chat.
3. File a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency, which arrested 1,129 cybercrime suspects in the past month (our story).
4. If you shared your CNIC, check which SIMs are registered on it: how to check SIMs on your CNIC.

For other NADRA services, our NADRA fee calculator lists the official charges, so you can spot a site asking for more.