Operation Frontier Plus III, a large international operation has officially commenced, with the participation of the Anti-Scam Centre of the Maldives Police Service.
This is carried out in collaboration with national anti-scam centres of different countries, as the third operation focused on combatting scams across borders and financial crimes.
The Frontier Plus Alliance carrying out this initiative consists of 13 countries in total. In addition to Maldives, they are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Africa, Macau, Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.
The Maldives Police Service stated that the main aim of this operation is to stop transnational scams by working with legislative agencies.
This initiative is based on four key objectives. The first is to take immediate action and stop transactions from suspicious accounts, with the second to exchange information about new scam tactics and networks between countries in real time. Using data to identify scams and to return money sent is the third objective, with the fourth being to increase international collaboration and strengthen bonds, while reinforcing investigations into crimes across borders.
As part of this operation, several types of scams will be prioritised. These are investment scams, romance scams, E-commerce scams, job scams, loan scams, phishing scams, and scams which claim to be from government agencies.
The Maldives Police Service stated that this initiative will be carried out from March 10th to May 7th, during which strong measures will be taken against scams.
The results of this operation will be announced on May 13th, with the international press conference, the most important part of this initiative, scheduled for May 20th in Maldives. The number of arrests, total sum of frozen funds, as well as other results achieved by the participating countries will be announced in this briefing.
The Maldives Police Service has achieved a good result on an international level during last year’s operation, particularly for refunding transactions. The aim this year is to reinforce action taken against scams, the Maldives Police Service stated.