Maldives Police Service (MPS) has warned the public over a surge in cases of fraudulent bank transactions using forged bank transfer slips.

The police institution recently shed light on the rise in cases of business transactions using forged bank transfer slips.

Findings so far indicate that those who forward fraudulent bank transfer slips use a special application to create fake transfer slips.

Police revealed that these slips are commonly sent as payment after conducting business with restaurants and shops.

With this, the police institution has urged the public not to conduct any financial transactions without confirming that the money has been deposited into ones account, to report to authorities immediately if someone falls victim to such scams as well as to be extra cautious in online business transactions, in order to stay safe from such scams.

The police have urged public caution over the increase in such scams at a time authorities recently recovered and returned MVR 10,700 that was fraudulently obtained by gaining control of someone's Viber and Facebook accounts.

MPS revealed that they received reports of a case where someone had seized control of a victim’s Viber and Facebook accounts and fraudulently obtained money by messaging others, pretending to be the owner of the account. The case was reported on Friday.

Through collaborative efforts of Henveiru Police and the Cyber Center police, the stolen money was recovered within about six hours.

The country’s national bank, Bank of Maldives (BML) has also urged caution from the public over the surge in online scams and fraudulent money acquisition cases.

As such, BML has urged the people to take the necessary steps to be safe from such scams including verifying the recipient before sending money.

The bank has also requested to inform them as soon as possible and report the matter to the police if money has been sent.