Maldives Police Service (MPS) has warned citizens to be cautious of scams when making online monetary transactions.
MPS warned of a rise in the number of online scams due to the increase of monetary transactions being made on shop websites and online applications. Maldivians began making more online monetary transactions following the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, MPS stated it has recently been receiving an increasing number of cases regarding scams from iBay and other online platforms. It stated most of the scams involve victims being tricked into selling their products online and making the delivery after receiving a fake receipt.
MPS stated it has found it difficult to investigate such cases and warned online shops and sellers to wait for confirmation from their bank that the online transaction has been made, before delivery.
Banks have also warned their customers of such scams and have advised them to confirm online transactions and not to accept calls claiming to be from the bank.