Let’s “name and shame” mobile money fraudsters

Ghana News Agency (Accra) – The head of fintech and innovation at the Bank of Ghana (BoG), has called for the publication of names of mobile money fraudsters in the media. Kwame Agyapong Oppong said the only way is to “name and shame” the fraudsters to deter others from such activity.

He made this call at a workshop on mobile money fraud at the Accra Digital Centre organised by the Ministry of Communications and the National Cyber Security Centre.

Agyapong Oppong said cases of mobile money fraud are on the rise and this calls for stringent measures to tackle the menace, promote e-commerce and grow the local economy.

Public education

Warning that everyone is at risk, Agyapong Oppong charged all stakeholders, and especially the media, to play a role in public education.

Godwin Kwami Tamakloe, senior manager in charge of risk compliance and anti-money laundering at MTN Ghana, said massive education of the public on mobile money frauds should be taken to the grass roots to reach schools, markets and community dwellers.

“Be sure that you know who is calling you – that you know the number – before you engage in any discussion around your mobile money wallet,” Tamakloe said.

He said there are many different ways in which people are defrauded, from SMS alerts and calls purporting to come from service providers and suggesting that a customer has won a promotional prize, recruitment scams and emotional scams such as sextortion.

Greater collaboration

Tamakloe cautioned people to desist from giving their phone or personal identification number (PIN) out for others to do transactions for them, as their mobile money accounts could be tampered with.

He called for collaboration in the fight against mobile money fraud and said that if one stakeholder encounters any case of mobile money fraud, they need to keep other stakeholders informed in order to prevent a further occurrence.

“At this point in time, we should stop working in silos… We are a network of people – and the work one does, in one way or the other, affects the other person positively or negatively,” he said.

Eric Kwaku Mensah, acting head of technical operations with the e-Crime Bureau, said that the perpetrators of mobile money fraud thrive on customers’ vulnerability.

“Don’t think you are too smart… always be security conscious,” he urged.

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