Nearly MVR 400K lost in 38 scam cases last week

Police statistics show that nearly MVR 400,000 was lost to various scams across the Maldives in the past week alone.

According to data released by the Police Anti-Scam Centre on Monday, a total of MVR 387,881.10 was lost in 38 reported scam cases last week. The statistics further show that MVR 208,708.20 of the total funds lost has since been recovered.

The scam cases reported to police last week comprised 16 e-commerce-related cases, 10 cases involving currency exchange, five cases related to booking cancellations, two investment scams, and five cases involving other types of fraudulent activities.

A comparison with figures from the first week of October shows that MVR 306,208.28 was lost across 40 scam cases during that period. This represents an increase of MVR 81,672.82 in total losses during the past week compared to the first week of the month.

Commissioner of Police Ahmed Mohamed noted on Sunday that online crimes had doubled during the first half of this year compared to the corresponding period last year.

In his message, the Commissioner highlighted that 68 percent of the online crimes reported so far this year were carried out through social media platforms.

The Commissioner attributed the increase in such cases to public negligence and a continued lack of awareness about cybercrime.