Two jailed and fined for scamming victim by posing as BML

The Criminal Court has sentenced two individuals for fraudulently obtaining money by impersonating the Bank of Maldives (BML) and deceiving a victim into transferring funds from her account.

The court convicted Aslam Suhoor, Maavaru/Lh. Naifaru, and Maryam Safwa, Thandiraiymaage/R. Alifushi, for their roles in a scam carried out on 23 January 2021.

According to the case report, the fraudsters contacted Mohamed Haneen Ibrahim of Jambumaa/S. Hithadhoo, falsely claiming there was a security issue with his bank account and offering assistance in securing a student loan. Through this deception, MVR 75,457.74 was transferred from the account of Haneen’s mother, Aishath Aneefa, into another account controlled by the suspects.

The settlement report shows that MVR 50,000 of the stolen money was deposited into Aslam Suhoor’s account. Of this amount, MVR 25,000 was withdrawn via ATM, while the remaining MVR 25,000 was transferred to Maryam Safwa’s account.

Both defendants pleaded guilty at the preliminary stage, allowing the case to proceed under expedited trial procedures.

Sentencing

• Maryam Safwa  

Safwa was sentenced to four months and 24 days in jail.  

  The court also ordered her to pay MVR 25,000 in compensation to the victim through the Civil Court within 30 days.

• Aslam Suhoor  

Suhoor was also sentenced to four months and 24 days in jail, with the sentence enhanced due to a prior criminal conviction within the past six years (a drug-related case).  

Upon his request for commutation, Judge Safwath Habeeb converted three months and 24 days of the sentence into a fine of MVR 28,800, and ordered Suhoor to complete 160 hours of community service in lieu of the remaining one month.