Scam losses rise to MVR 365,000 last week; e-commerce fraud dominates

More money was lost to scams last week compared to earlier this month, according to new figures released by the Police Anti-Scam Centre.

Statistics show that MVR 325,485 was lost across 46 cases earlier this month, while MVR 365,626 was lost in 36 cases last week, an increase of MVR 40,141 despite fewer reported cases.

The Anti-Scam Centre also reported that MVR 117,439.50 was recovered last week. This is MVR 78,494.50 less than the MVR 195,934 recovered earlier this month.

As in previous weeks, e-commerce scams remained the most common, with 24 cases reported. Three currency-exchange scams and two fraud cases were also recorded last week.

According to statistics released earlier this month, 122 scam cases were reported in June, 35 fewer than in May. The amount lost in June was also lower: MVR 914,698, compared to MVR 2.27 million in May.

Of the money lost in June, MVR 598,678 was successfully recovered.

Police have previously stated that more than MVR 33 million has been lost to over 2,700 scam cases reported nationwide since last year.