Despite rapid fund withdrawals, police recover MVR 10.2m from scam operations

Between March last year and March this year, scam victims in the Maldives lost MVR 27.6 million, of which police managed to recover MVR 10.2 million, according to new figures shared by the Maldives Police Service.

The police established a dedicated Anti‑Scam Call Centre in March last year amid a surge in fraud cases. The hotline, 125, allows victims to report incidents immediately, which officers say is critical to improving recovery rates.

Speaking to PSM, Inspector of Police Adam Naveed, Head of the Anti‑Scam Centre, said money is often withdrawn from accounts within hours of a scam taking place. This, he said, creates major obstacles to tracing and retrieving stolen funds.

Naveed noted that many victims remain unfamiliar with common scam tactics, including pyramid schemes and fraudulent investment pitches, and some do not believe such schemes are active in the Maldives until they fall victim.

Over the past year, the Anti‑Scam Centre received 2,259 cases and froze 3,852 bank accounts linked to suspected scam activity. Naveed said 40 percent of the total amount involved in the cases filed was recovered, representing funds from 785 cases and 183 accounts.

Police data shows that from March 17 last year to March 17 this year, MVR 27.6 million was lost to scams, while MVR 10.2 million has been successfully recovered so far.

In addition, 36 suspects have been arrested in connection with scam‑related offenses, and 10 cases have been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office. Police also blocked 235 phone numbers and 452 devices used in scam operations.

According to Naveed, the most common methods used by scammers are e‑commerce fraud and extortion schemes, which account for half of all cases submitted to the centre. The second most common category involves fraudulent foreign exchange transactions. He said the Anti‑Scam Centre is working with relevant agencies to identify such scams early, disrupt operations, and raise public awareness.

Naveed urged the public to exercise caution when making financial transactions and to immediately report any suspicious activity.

Globally, recovering money lost to online scams is extremely difficult, with many countries retrieving less than 10–15 percent of stolen funds once money leaves the first account. In that context, the Maldives recovering more than one‑third of the stolen amount reflects unusually strong coordination between police, banks, and financial intelligence units, though the rising number of cases shows the scale of the challenge.