MVR 200,000 lost to scams recovered last week

More than MVR 200,000 has been recovered from scams reported to the Police last week.

Authorities have published the Anti-Scam Center's statistics from last week. 

As per the statistics, 42 scams had been reported from 28th September to 4th October. A total of MVR 318,342.50 was lost to scams. As of now, Police have recovered MVR 221,243.33.

Police said that last week's report showed that scams pertaining to e-commerce/online businesses were at the top. They also said 19 scams were reported at that time.

Police also stated that six currency exchange scams took place, as per the report.

The report showed that there were 7 cases of impersonation, three cases of phishing, vishing and job scams, and 7 cases that fell into the Other category, as was said by Police.

Police went on to say that the statistics show scams are being conducted using phone calls, iBay, online messaging apps, phishing links and platforms such as Facebook Marketplace.

Authorities have advised the public to ensure the validity of an individual before conducting transactions, to not disclose personal information and to enable two-factor authentication as safety measures from scams.

They also said that scammers see success as they are skilled in the act, and that reporting such cases to the Police as soon as possible will only make it easier to retrieve the money that was lost. 

To report cases of fraud and deception, the public has been advised to call the National Emergency Call Center at 911 or 125 (extension 2020), or send an email to [email protected], as was said by the Police.