Scam calls claiming recipient has been flagged for ‘money laundering’ offences circulating

A rise in fraudulent phone calls does not show signs of abating. Over the past week, BusinessNow.mt has been informed that several local residents continued to receive scam phone calls by persons purporting to be from local authorities.

In the call scammers claim, via a pre-recorded message, that the police are finding issues with validating the recipient’s eID records, that they have been flagged for money laundering and drug trafficking, and that an arrest warrant has been issued in their name.

The pre-recorded message then directs the person receiving the call to press "1" and follow the additional instructions.

At the end of May, the police issued a warning about such calls being made from local numbers from people claiming to come from the Malta Police Force.

The police warned of a pre-recorded message stating that an arrest warrant has been issued against the recipient.

On Wednesday, Malta’s police again warned the public that it was still receiving reports of calls with the same pre-recorded message.

“These are none other than scams, whereby criminals try to gain access to personal information and/or credit card details”, the police warned.

In recent weeks several members of the public have informed BusinessNow.mt that despite police warnings and increased awareness, such fraudulent attempts continue.