MVR 1.6 million loss in April through scams, most through e-commerce related

MVR 1.6 million has been lost to scams last month, despite a significant drop in the number of reported cases compared to the same period last year, police said on Saturday.

According to a Facebook post by the Anti-Scam Centre, 140 scam cases were reported in April, marking a 43 percent decline from April last year, when 246 cases were recorded with total losses of MVR 2.2 million.

However, none of the funds lost last year April were recovered, whereas this year, authorities managed to recover MVR 126,717.

The most frequent scams reported last month were fraudulent transactions related to e-commerce platforms, accounting for 63 cases. Another 29 cases involved fraudulent extortion, while three reports were related to fake online profiles pretending to be romantic partners.

Platforms commonly used to carry out scams include Facebook Marketplace, Telegram, Viber, and Instagram, police said.

The Anti-Scam Centre, which was established on March 17 to tackle the growing number of scams, has since received 229 reports, resulting in a combined loss of MVR 2.2 million over one and a half months.

Of this, MVR 427,304 was recovered. In the same period, USD 37,155 was lost in reported scam cases, with USD 1,641 successfully recovered.

Authorities have frozen 125 bank accounts linked to scam operations.

Preventive measures against scams:

- Use official, legally recognized payment gateways for online transactions

- Do not respond to unknown messages or calls and block suspicious contacts immediately

- Conduct foreign exchange only through licensed money exchange centres or banks

- Cross-check online prices and verify unusually low offers

- Authenticate online dating profiles with reverse image searches and review social media activity

- Never share bank account information, passwords, or PIN numbers

- Verify online business websites for reviews, proper addresses, and security certificates