Police statistics have revealed that 1.9 million Rufiyaa was lost by the public in just the past December due to an increase in cases of obtaining money through fraud and deceit.

According to data released by the Police Anti-Scam Center, 179 scam cases were reported in the final month of last year. While money involved in many of these cases was retrieved, the lost funds were fully recovered in 89 cases. Additionally, the police stated that half of the lost funds were saved in 45 of the reported cases.

During this period, the highest number of reports involved deception related to e-commerce or online trading transactions. While 80 such cases were recorded, there were also 44 cases of obtaining money by impersonating others, and 31 cases carried out under the guise of dollar and currency exchange. Furthermore, 16 cases involving phishing, vishing, and job scams, as well as 16 cases of deception through other means, surfaced in December.

Although the public suffered a total loss of 1.9 million Rufiyaa in cases reported in December, the police recovered a total of 4 million Rufiyaa during that month. The Anti-Scam Center informed that this figure increased because it also includes funds involved in cases reported in November.

Regarding the efforts being made to resolve scam cases, the Head of the Anti-Scam Center, Inspector of Police Adam Naveed, has previously stated that 37 percent of lost money has been recovered when looking at the past 10 months.