Maldives Police Service has recovered more than MVR 3.1 million lost by the public to scams, after taking part in an international anti-fraud operation led by the United Arab Emirates, police said on 22 October.

The police Anti-Scam Centre joined Operation Confrontation Ghost, which ran from 1 July to 30 September and brought together law enforcement agencies from 30 countries.

During the three-month period, the centre received 544 scam complaints in which victims reported losses totalling MVR 5,256,101.97, police said. Of that, MVR 3,104,075.38, about 59.1 percent, was recovered by moving quickly to hold the funds before they could be passed on.

17 arrested, 1,088 accounts frozen

Police said 847 people were identified as suspects linked to scam transactions, and 17 people were arrested as part of the investigations. Police did not name the suspects.

Working with banks, police also temporarily froze 1,088 bank accounts suspected of being used to move scam proceeds, a step police said was aimed at limiting victims' losses and disrupting criminal networks.

Online shopping scams most common

Fake online sales were the most common type of scam reported, with 230 cases involving the buying and selling of goods through online platforms and pages. Foreign currency exchange scams came second with 107 cases.

Police also flagged a growing trend of fraud disguised as booking cancellations or refunds, with 80 such cases reported. Other complaints included 43 cases of impersonating institutions, well-known people, relatives or friends, 32 fake high-return investment schemes, 27 unauthorised account transactions and eight romance scams.

Globally, the operation involved Interpol, the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and 13 private technology and financial companies, police said. More than 960 people were arrested worldwide, 4,126 bank accounts and over 570 social media accounts were blocked, and 29 scam centres were raided. The results were announced at the 13th conference of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in Vienna.

The Anti-Scam Centre also ran 34 awareness activities, including television programmes, during the operation, police said.