The Parliament of the Maldives has approved the report recommending the Communication Authority of the Maldives (CAM) to place a limit on SIM cards issued to customers within 15 days to prevent scam calls.
The Parliamentary Committee on State-Owned Enterprises examined the issue of loss of funds from the accounts of the Bank of Maldives (BML) and measures to prevent scam calls. The committee also formulated a report to prevent the loss of funds from accounts and scam calls.
The report of the committee was put to vote in Parliament and was passed by a unanimous vote of 45 members. The report approved by the parliament stated that CAM should place a limit to the number of SIMs issued to customers within 15 days as a measure to curb scam calls. The report also stated that all relevant agencies form a task force to prevent scam calls.
Additionally, the report stated that the issue of customers using incomplete information on newly issued SIMs has been addressed since December last year. However, the issue of SIM cards taken earlier has also not been resolved. The report stated that CAM should ensure that all SIMs used in the Maldives are registered numbers and establish a system to easily identify the owner of the numbers. The report also stated that individuals be made aware of the problems of fraudulent extortion.
The highest number of fraud cases were reported in 2022, according to the committee. As such, 1,087 cases were reported to the Maldives Police Service (MPS) in 2022. A total of 601 cases were reported in 2021 and 155 cases in 2023 so far.