Police Headquarters has issued a public warning following a surge in financial crimes targeting Lankans through various social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, and WeChat.

During the investigations conducted by the CID recently, it has been observed that there is a rapid increase in the number of instances of Lankans falling victim to crimes committed using the above-mentioned social media networks, Police Headquarters said in a statement.

It said that the criminals use two main methods to commit such fraudulent activities.

The statement details that as the first method, it is advertised that people can earn a huge amount of money while remaining at home after getting a job from the social networking services mentioned above and then people are informed to invest in a certain business.

As an initial step, the criminals inform people to deposit a small amount in this investment and then for the said small amount invested, a certain amount is added and offered as a benefit. For several such steps, the investor is offered money increasing the amount as benefits.

Thus, they gain the trust of unsuspecting people by stating that there are more investment opportunities, and advise them to invest in large amounts of money. In this manner, they get the money deposited in accounts in local banks, the statement said.

Although, large amounts of money are deposited as above on several occasions, the benefits are not returned to the investors. When the investors inquire about such criminals, via social media platforms, regarding the non-payment of benefits, the criminals inform people that if they want to receive benefits, they must pay fees such as defence levies, customs fees, etc., and that if such additional amounts can be spent, the benefits can be granted. Thus, people will be informed to invest further by spending more money.

As the second method, it is advertised that people can earn a huge amount of money remaining at home after getting a job from the social networking services mentioned above and then people’s account numbers are obtained, it said.

Then the criminals inform people to transfer the money credited to their accounts to the accounts notified through social media platforms and a commission is paid to the account holders as a benefit from the money deposited. The investigation officers have observed that the money deposited through the first method described above is thus transferred to other accounts using a large number of accounts.

In this manner, people unknowingly become victims of the financial fraud of money laundering and the offense of aiding and abetting a crime.Further, it has been revealed through investigations that the criminals who commit these crimes use modern technology and the internet while either remaining in this country or abroad.

It is observed that these criminals are evading the law due to the inability of investigators to immediately elicit information about the crimes committed through social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, WeChat, etc. Therefore, the investigators of such crimes have identified that educating Sri Lankan citizens is a key requirement to prevent such crimes.

The statement emphasises the importance of raising public awareness about the growing threat of social media-based financial crimes calling for widespread publicity to educate Sri Lankan citizens on how to protect themselves.

The public is strongly advised to avoid responding to advertisements or messages posted by unknown individuals on social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Skype, and WeChat. People should refrain from joining unfamiliar social media groups, clicking on suspicious links, or following instructions provided through unverified online sources.

Additionally, individuals are urged not to share personal bank account details with unknown parties or to transfer funds received from unfamiliar sources to other accounts based on instructions from third parties, it added.