A man who tricked a woman out of money in a ‘romance scam’ in northern Maldives has been sentenced to home imprisonment and told to pay a hefty fine.
The case involved a man accused of tricking a woman who he promised to marry out of money on multiple occasions.
Both the defendant and the victim are from islands located in northern Maldives.
The man was pressed with two charges in the case; fraud and theft by deceit.
A local magistrate court issued rulings on both charges last week.
The charge of fraud stemmed from the allegation that he scammed the woman he promised to marry out of MVR 10,000, which he “borrowed” from her after telling her he wished to purchase a dinghy boat that was available for a cheaper price.
According to the prosecution, he made the woman transfer the MVR 10,000 to the bank account of one of his friends.
He never returned the money.
However, the court found him ‘not guilty’ of this charge.
But he was convicted of the second charge of theft by deception.
The charge stemmed from the allegation that he tricked the woman into finding buyers for air conditioning systems that he said he was selling at a cheap price.
According to the prosecution, he deceived her into finding buyers for him and taking money from them. However, he never delivered the air conditioning systems, and nor did he provide a refund.
The charge carries a prison sentence of nine months.
However, the man pled for leniency, and the court changed the sentence to five months of home imprisonment and a fine of MVR 27,600.
He was told to pay the fine within five months.