Police have arrested 17 individuals through a major anti-scam operation, and recovered over MVR 3 million lost through scams.
Maldives Police Service's Anti-Scam Centre joined the 'Operation Confrontation Ghost' led by UAE's Ministry of Interior, conducted at an international scale, the police website states. Through this, police have recovered over MVR 3.1 million in funds lost by the public through scams.
The Operation Confrontation Ghost had 30 countries and international bodies working together. Through this, Maldives Police Service recovered a large part of funds reported stolen through scams, police said.
The operation ran from July through September. Police said that during these three months, the Anti-Scam Centre received 544 reports of scams.
Through these cases, the public had reported financial loss of MVR 5.3 million.
Through swift action taken by the Anti-Scam Centre and efforts in collaboration with relevant authorities, MVR 3 million from this amount has been recovered, police said.
This amounts to approximately 59.1 percent of the funds reported lost. These results were achieved through swift action to seize the funds before scammers were able to circulate the funds, police said.
Through police efforts under this operation, police have identified 847 suspects. As of now, police have arrested 17 individuals in relation to these investigations.
Further, police said that they are taking fast action in collaboration with banks to stop stolen funds from being circulated further and to recover them. 1,088 suspect bank accounts have also been temporarily frozen. These measures are being taken to minimize financial loss to scam victims and to intercept financial actions of scam networks, police said.
Reports of scams, and common tactics
- The highest number of reported scams are related to e-commerce and online businesses. 230 cases have been reported relating to sales and purchase of goods via online platforms and pages.
- The second most commonly reported type of scams related to foreign currency exchange, with 107 such cases reported.
- A new scam tactic which has been becoming more frequent of late is fraudulent bookings and refunds. The Anti-Scam Centre has received reports of 80 such cases.
- 43 cases of scams committed through impersonating celebrities and close friends and relatives were also reported.
- Another 32 reported cases involved fake investment schemes, falsely promising high returns.
- Unauthorized transactions without the knowledge of account owners make up 27 reported cases.
- 8 cases were also reported of scams conducted through establishing romantic relationships and extorting money.
Police said that this data exhibits that online scammers and cyber crime are adopting new tactics.
Operation Confrontation Ghost was initiated by the UAE's Ministry of Interior and conducted in collaboration with Interpol, Global Anti-Scam Alliance (GASA), 13 private companies in the technology and finance sectors, and law enforcement bodies of 30 countries, police said.
The operation aimed to identify and halt scams, threatening and extortion, and financial crimes conducted through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and via digital platforms, according to police.
