Previously, scam cases were investigated by the police station where they were reported. However, these cases will now be handled by the Anti-Scam Centre. Victims can report scams via the 125 hotline.
Bank accounts can now be frozen immediately without a court order if they are linked to scams, preventing further fraudulent transactions using the same account, the police anti-scam centre said.
Inspector of Police Adam Naveed, head of the Anti-Scam Centre, told Mihaaru News that the fifth amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act, which came into force on Monday, will help tackle scams more effectively.
The most significant change, he said, is the establishment of a real-time information-sharing system with financial institutions, overseen by the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). Under the new system, accounts can be frozen without a court order for up to 48 hours.
“This was not possible before without court approval. Now, if we receive an urgent complaint, we can immediately freeze the account, and the law grants us the power to freeze all related accounts for 48 hours,” Naveed said.
Previously, scam cases were investigated by the police station where they were reported. However, these cases will now be handled by the Anti-Scam Centre. Victims can report scams via the 125 hotline.
“We can now ensure that multiple people are no longer scammed using the same account,” Naveed said.
“With these new legal powers, the Anti-Scam Centre, in collaboration with financial institutions, will immediately freeze accounts linked to scams. At present, with transactions being decentralized, we don’t always know when an account has been used three or four times in a scam, which makes investigations time-consuming.”
While many believe scams are mainly run from Maldivian prisons, this is not the case, he said.
Instead, most scams are orchestrated by criminals both in the Maldives and abroad.
Foreign scammers have caused the most financial damage, he added. Last Thursday, a company reported losing 250,000 Pounds in a scam.
As Maldives relies heavily on imports, local businesses frequently communicate with foreign suppliers via email. Scammers often gain access to an email account and alter payment details so that funds are transferred to fraudulent accounts.
In the latest case, the 250,000 Pounds was lost from a Maldivian company’s account due to an email compromise, the Anti-Scam Centre said.
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