Police have said that 1,584 scams have been reported to them as of now this year, with more than MVR 15 million being lost from the scams.

The police held a press conference today, with Head of the Anti-Scam Center Adam Naveed stating 1,584 scam cases have been reported to them to date this year.

He said that the money lost from the scams have gone beyond MVR 15 million, with MVR 6.6 million having been recovered.

Naveed stated scams where payment is acquired through fraudulent online businesses have seen the highest report rate in Maldives, with 821 of the total scams reported being from that category.

Additionally, he said the second highest form of scam that has been reported is 240 cases of  currency exchange, with 213 cases of fraudulently acquiring money with a false identity as well.

"We saw an entirely new form of scam in the community, which is the booking cancellation refund scam. When we got the first case, the police told the public how these scams work in order to make them aware, with the help of the media and our own media," said Naveed.

According to Naveed, one of the steps they have taken in stopping scams is freezing 2,803 accounts for 48 hours. He said 530 of those accounts have been frozen for three additional months under a court order.

53 suspects in scam networks were arrested, and while they were being charged, 25 cases were sent to the Prosecutor General's Office, with four suspects being charged for their offense, stated Naveed.

Naveed continued by saying that scammers are able to withdraw the stolen funds from banks due to there being a number of people who rent their bank accounts.