MVR 27 million lost in scams since December

Maldives Police Service states MVR 25 million has been lost in scams since last year’s December to date.

In a press briefing held on Wednesday regarding major cases under investigation by the Economic Crimes Department – Chief Inspector of Police Abdulla Rasheed said MVR 27 million has been lost in scams starting December of last year till present.

In this regard, he detailed that 28,003 cases related scam-related crimes have been reported to the police since they began documentation, adding that the cases involved MVR 57 million and USD 640,00.

Chief Inspector Abdulla Rasheed said efforts have been initiated to establish a scam prevention centre which will be operationalized in March.

He explained various ways scams are conducted:

• Claiming the victim is a recipient of land, flat or winning a prize in promotion
• Acquiring personal information of the victim via links sent to their phones
• Impersonating a family member, friend or acquaintance while calling from unknown numbers
• Claiming to sell dollars on social media platforms
• Prostitution and indecent acts-related
• Scan and pay
• Acquiring OTP

Chief Inspector Abdulla Rasheed said topics of prevalence at a particular time are leveraged in conducting scams, such as donations to the Palestine fund.

“To prevent scams, we, alongside other authorities, are undertaking various efforts. In this regard, in 2022, we conducted a 100-day program,” he said.

Chief Inspector Abdulla Rasheed said that Police and other relevant authorities have taken steps to prevent scams. While they have decreased such crimes, he emphasized that criminals change their tactics to reflect these steps.

He noted that the number of scam-related crimes reported last year was lower than the previous year. In this regard, 1,081 scam-related crimes were recorded in 2022 while 971 such cases were reported in 2023.

“Despite the lower number of the cases, the number of money lost has increased in 2023 compared to 2022,” he added.