More than MVR 1 million lost to scams last month

The police have said that over MVR 1 million has been lost to scams just last month.

The police's Anti-Scam Center said that last month had a high volume of scams, with 179 cases being reported in December. 89 of those cases have been resolved with the money being returned. 45 of the cases saw partial returns in money, as was said by the center.

E-commerce had the highest number of scams in December, with 80 cases having been reported to the Anti-Scam Center. 44 cases of deception, 31 cases of swiping funds from people in the name of money exchange, 16 cases of phishing, vishing and job scams, and an additional 16 cases have been reported as per the police's statistics. 

The Anti-Scam Center said that more than MVR 1.9 million in losses were incurred via said cases. During the last month, more than MVR 4 million was recovered, including money lost in scam cases from November.

The Anti-Scam Center is working to raise awareness on social media due to the rise in scams. The center has appealed to the public to not open suspicious links, ascertain the identity of an individual before conducting financial transactions and ascertain the account of a business as well. They have also appealed to not transfer money until after goods are received.

The center has requested to ensure the identity of the individual upon receiving a text asking for funds and making sure the account number belongs to said individual, and if one is exchanging money, to pay attention to whether the business has an MMA license.

During the press briefing by the Cyber Crime Center at Iskandhar Koshi last month, Head of the Scam Center Inspector of Police Adam Naveed has stated 37 percent of money that were lost to scams have been retrieved within a 10 month period. He also stated that Maldives' Anti-Scam Center has produced great results even when compared to other nations.

1,663 scam cases have been reported since the opening of the center. MVR 8.5 million has been recovered from said cases. However, MVR 22.7 million was lost.