While over 50,000 Maldivians were depositing money into the GMCE or GEMQ investment scheme, the issue of not being able to withdraw money suddenly escalated, raising fears of significant losses for those who participated in the scheme. GEMQ has been in use in the Maldives for over a year now, and on Sunday night, the police stated that it was a fraudulent scheme. They have also issued a warning that action will be taken.
A Telegram group is used among those participating in the scheme in the Maldives. With over 41,000 members in that group, Maldivians involved say the number of users will exceed 50,000. However, the police revealed it to be a pyramid scheme in a statement released this week. According to reports, members of the GEMQ Telegram group have been raising the issue of not being able to withdraw money since last night. As concerns are being expressed about this, some people are saying that the admin has “fled.”
In response, some people in the group are trying to “calm down” the situation, saying that everything will be fine and money will be received. Some people say that even customer service is not responding. As people become angrier over the inability to withdraw money, some are calling for continued trust in GEMQ.
As the issue of not being able to withdraw money from GEMQ escalated, the police have obtained information on about seven people involved in promoting GEMQ in the Maldives as part of their investigation. However, details of the investigation are not yet available due to ongoing inquiries.
Under the name “Quick and Easy Profits,” this group has been advertising on social media to invest in it and encouraging more people to join. The police have been investigating the GEMQ advertisement issue for months now. Inspector of Police Adam Naveed from the Anti-Scam Department told “Mihaaru” that this scheme originated in the Maldives. When the issue surfaced, the police sent information about the scheme to police in all countries through Interpol to check if such activities were happening in those countries. However, the GEMQ scheme has not yet been operated in any of those countries.
According to Naveed, while the entire GEMQ scheme operates in cryptocurrency, crypto wallet tracing also indicates that it originated in the Maldives. In a statement released last Saturday, the police said they would take necessary steps to take legal action against those who operate and promote the scheme. They also stated that although it was claimed to use Artificial Intelligence technology for crypto grid trading, this was a deception.
