Fraud Alert Warning: Mobile Money Fraud on the Rise in Ghana
Criminals have invaded Ghana’s leading mobile money transfer platforms making it possible for some people to doubt the genuineness of the platforms which help to boost financial inclusion in the country.
According to Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, mobile money operators in Ghana namely, MTN Mobile Money, TigoCash, Airtel Money and Vodafone Cash have recorded 388 money fraud cases in 2016 as against 278 in 2015.
Although the mobile money operators did not reveal the amount of money made away by the fraudsters, majority of these cases have been reported to the police for further investigations and closure. While some fraudsters involved in the some cases have been prosecuted.
To this end, telecom industry analysts warned that mobile money fraud which is rampant in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, is also rising in Ghana and it is here to stay because of the identifiable loopholes in the national identification system, greed and ignorance, among others.
Identifiable loopholes
Albert Antwi-Boasiako, principal consultant at the e-Crime Bureau, the leading digital forensics, fraud investigations & cyber security firm with a dedicated e-Crime Lab operating in Ghana and other African countries, noted at a workshop organised by MTN Ghana in collaboration with the Journalists for Business Advocacy ( JBA) in Accra that not all the national ID cards permissible for the registration of mobile money account(s) are genuine.
Because of this it is difficult to trace mobile money fraudsters and other criminals in the West African second largest after Nigeria, he said.
In Ghana, the national ID cards which are permitted to be used for the registration of mobile money account(s) and SIM cards are a valid Passport, driver’s license issued by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card, Voter ID and National ID cards.
But some criminals do cheat these agencies mandated to issue these national ID cards. So some of the ID cards used in the mobile money account registrations could be faked, according to cyber security experts.
The Head of Research & Communications at the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Derek Laryea blamed the geometric rate of mobile money fraud in the country on customers’ greed and ignorance.
He said in an interview that some customers’ attempt to get more money to solve their pressing demands end up being cheated by fraudsters.
Mr Laryea noted that some customers are not aware of the existence of mobile money fraud in the country because of limited information and publicity.
On his part, Manager, Mobile Finance Services Analytics, Budget & Reporting at MTN Mobile Money, Solomon Hayford, added that inadequate customer vigilance and compromises, is among the contributory factor to the uptake of mobile money fraud in the country.
Types of mobile money fraud
Anonymous calls from fraudsters: Customers receive calls from fraudsters after deposits to transfer funds received with the claim being airtime.
False Promotion: Customers are lured to authorize cash out transaction with the claim of winning Mobile Money promotion.
Cash out Fraud: Customers are pushed payment approval prompt and lured to enter their pin code in order to receive price won through Mobile Money.
False Promotion: Customers are lured to visit merchant point to redeem price won through Mobile Money.
Scam: Fraudsters calling to dupe customers under the pretext of delivering goods from abroad. Some fraudsters call and ask for specified amounts to be deposited into a mobile money account, in exchange for goods from relatives/friends from abroad.
False Cash out SMS: Fraudsters send false cash out messages to merchants for authorization of which the physical cash is issued by the merchant to the fraudster without the equivalent e-cash.
False Promotion SMS: Fraudulent consumers send fake SMS to agents either from their own handsets or generated from computers. The SMS looks genuine to the recipient.
Addressing mobile money fraud
Touching on how the mobile money operators are addressing the fraud, Mr Laryea said: “Mobile money operators are beginning to intensify mobile money fraud education” to enable reduce or end the canker in the country.
Mobile money in numbers
Despite the fact that banking started in Ghana about a century ago, only about 40 percent of Ghanaians have bank accounts, meaning majority of the population are unbanked. This unbanked population therefore use cash for transactions, excluding them from the formal financial system, i.e. access to savings, bank credit, mortgages, investment and other financial products.
In the last five years, however, mobile money has seen an astronomical growth, drawing thousands of the unbanked households into the financial inclusion net.
According to Bank of Ghana (BoG) data, as at 2012, the total value of mobile money transactions totaled GHS594.12 million. Significantly, as at December last year the value of transactions had reached GHS78.5 billion, indicating that within five years, mobile money transactions has grown by more than 13,000 percent. This is huge and promises a better future.
Regarding employment by mobile money, as at end of last year, the cumulative registered mobile money agents in the country was 136, 769. Of this number, 107, 415 are active mobile money agents.
In July 2015, the BoG introduced new E-money Issuer (EMI) guidelines to govern the mobile money sector. A key part of the guidelines was that banks should pay interest on the float kept by the banks on behalf of the EMIs (mobile money operators).
It is important to note the banks are paying interest to subscribers on their floats held in their mobile money wallets.
Credits: Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Managing Ghana
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