The Anti-Scam Centre at the Maldives Police Services has warned the public that there is an uptick in medical scams carried out in the name of helping 'sick' people.
The center said that recently, posts using photos of patients seeking medical help have increased dramatically on Facebook and other social media platforms. However, the police said that many of the posts are scams to extort money.
The Anti-Scam Center said various websites take photos of patients and use them to play with people's feelings. Police said that scammers try to win people’s sympathy by talking about children as well as serious illnesses.
The techniques used by scammers include taking photos of patients from the Internet and websites abroad and talking about children and serious illnesses to win people's sympathy. They also included not picking up the phone when called at the number in the post, but responding to the message.
The scam center asked people to call the number before sending money to avoid the scams. Police also asked users to check the authenticity of the photo and use Google Reverse Image Search.
Police added that sharing uncertain posts invites more people to fall into this trap and warned the public not to share such photos.
