The Prosecutor General's Office has proposed an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Act to allow the police to obtain basic information needed to investigate cybercrime cases without a court order. The Prosecutor General’s Office has briefed the Judiciary Committee of Parliament on the amendments.
Speaking to the Judiciary Committee, Public Prosecutor of the Prosecutor General's Office Ahmed Naufal highlighted the importance of communication data and subscriber information in cybercrime investigation and noted the difficulties in obtaining this information. Communication data is information that answers the who, where and when questions. The subscriber information includes the name in which a phone number is registered, the various accounts associated with the number, and the address where the phone bill is sent.
Noting that the current law allows the police officers to obtain such information under a court order Naufal stated that this leads to delays in the investigations as the police must start the investigations right after they receive the report of scam cases. Hence, the proposed amendment aims to make the subscriber information and communication data available to the police without a court order. It also stipulates that network service providers and banks must provide such information to the police with the permission of a certain rank of police officer.
There has been an alarming increase in the number of cybercrimes reported in the Maldives. As such, while a total of 1,661 scam cases were reported in 2023, the number of such cases reported in the first seven months of 2024 is at 1,302. It is reported that that USD 1.3 million was lost from bank accounts in 2023. The amount lost from bank accounts due to scam cases from January 2024 to July 2024 is reported as USD 846,941. Additionally, 156 scam cases have been filed with the prosecutor's office so far this year.