Maldives Police Service has stated that, as of now, no arrests have been made in connection with the GEMCUE Investment Scheme (GMCE), a pyramid scheme to which thousands of Maldivians have reportedly lost millions.
The withdrawal of earnings via GMCE application was first disabled on June 19th. Although concerned, investors placed their trust in GMCE’s assurances that the issue would be resolved within a few days. However, on March 21, GMCE announced the discontinuation of the scheme via its official Telegram account, resulting in significant financial losses for investors
During an earlier interview with Sun, Chief Inspector of Police, and head of the Anti-Scam Centre of the Maldives Police Service Adam Naveed said that though the authority cannot accurately tell how many had invested on the scheme, their investigation into the scam so far has revealed over a million dollars have been invested on it.
He further said there was little hope of recovering the money invested since the funds were first converted to cryptocurrency before they were deposited into the GMCE application.
Individuals promote GEMCUE Investment Scheme (GMCE), which the Police have called a pyramid scheme.
Naveed confirmed identifying seven Maldivians who have been spearheading the scam, but added that besides the announcement police made, no other measures have been taken so far to stop it. Naveed further said that no actions have been taken against the seven individuals as well.
When questioned by Sun on Thursday, Police said they have not made any arrests in connection with the case.
Naveed had detailed that participants of the scam are shown pictures of other participants from other countries, but it was in fact doctored images to generate enthusiasm. Although the scam was not executed outside of the country, Naveed added that the Police suspects involvement of foreign parties.
Amidst surging cases of scams in the Maldives, Capital Market Development Authority (CMDA) has stated while the authority has the legal responsibility to investigate scam cases, it lacks enforcement powers.
Notably, Parliament’s Committee on Information Communication Technology has decided to launch an investigation into pyramid schemes, scams and poker platforms.