Many scammed by fraudulent iPhone seller, Police say probe ongoing

Maldives Police Service has commenced an investigation into a case where numerous people have been scammed under the guise of selling the latest phone in the Apple iPhone series.

The Instagram profile opened with the name ‘Ecommnerce Electronics Maldives’ promised customers iPhones at a cheaper rate than available in the local market. The page had opened for preorder and taken advance payments from many as well.

Notably, compared to other pages, MVR 3,000, which is a smaller amount was taken in advance payments.

The page conveyed to individual customers that different series of iPhones will be brought to customers on the 3rd and 5th of October.

Not too long after opening for pre-orders, the page had even made a post stating that their stock of phones was all gone.

Although some customers had interacted via Viber with the number associated with the page, the Viber account has now been deactivated.

Moreover, the Instagram page has been deleted as well.

When questioned by the Police regarding this issue, the authority stated that such a case was reported and an investigation was ongoing.

The page came into existence around the time when Apple is releasing new products and had also hosted a larger ‘giveaway’, gaining numerous followers in the process as well.

Before the page was deleted, it had over 8,000 followers. But the page was following about six accounts. Later on, it was only following an account in the same of former Parliamentarian Alhan Fahmy.