- Mobile Money Fraud Attempts Hits 63%, But Customers Are Learning to Fight Back
Fraud attempts targeting mobile money customers are rising sharply, but growing consumer awareness is helping more users detect and stop attacks before losing their funds, Godwin Tamakloe, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer at MobileMoney Ltd, has said.
Speaking during JoyNews’ Digital Economy Forum, Mr Tamakloe disclosed that MobileMoney Ltd had recorded a monthly rise of about 62.00% to 63.00% in reported fraud attempts, compared with an increase of roughly 3.00% in successful fraud incidents.
The difference, he argued, is important because it suggests that while fraudsters are intensifying their attacks, customers are also becoming more alert to the tactics used against them.
“We track another indicator called fraud attempts against fraud incidents,” he said. “The attempts give us information about how our customers are becoming more aware of what is happening around them.”
His comments add an important dimension to Ghana’s digital fraud debate. Public concern often focuses on the number of successful fraud cases and the value of money lost. But Mr Tamakloe’s analysis suggests that unsuccessful attacks may be just as important in understanding whether the industry’s defence systems are working.
In other words, Ghana’s mobile money ecosystem is not only being attacked more aggressively. It is also producing users who are increasingly able to recognise suspicious calls, terminate fraudulent engagements and report criminal numbers before funds are stolen.
Mr Tamakloe said many customers now identify fraudulent calls and messages early, hang up and report the telephone numbers involved to service providers. That behaviour, he noted, is evidence that public education campaigns are beginning to strengthen the customer’s role as the first line of defence.
“The only way is to build the capacity of the person who is the first line of defence to be able to identify that something is fraudulent and stop it,” he said.
That statement goes to the heart of the mobile money fraud challenge. Many digital fraud cases do not begin with criminals breaking directly into protected technology systems. They begin with human manipulation. Fraudsters call, threaten, flatter, confuse or deceive customers into disclosing information, sharing one-time pins, approving transactions or following instructions that give criminals access to funds.
Technology can block suspicious activity, flag abnormal patterns and restrict certain transactions. But where the customer is manipulated into voluntarily approving a transaction, the defence problem becomes more complex. The system may see an authorised action. The customer may later realise it was deception.
That is why customer awareness is no longer a soft public relations activity. It is now part of Ghana’s financial security infrastructure.
Mr Tamakloe’s data also shows that the fraud problem must be interpreted against the rapid expansion of digital payments. According to him, the value of activity within the mobile money ecosystem increased from about GH¢8.80 billion in 2021 to more than GH¢37.00 billion in 2025.
He further noted that approximately 71.00% of the increase recorded over the five-year period occurred between 2024 and 2025, reflecting the speed at which banks, merchants, agents and new service providers have been moving transactions online.
That growth has deepened financial inclusion and made payments easier for millions of Ghanaians. It has allowed customers to send and receive money, pay bills, buy goods, access services and interact with banks without visiting branches.
But scale brings risk. The more transactions move online, the more attractive the ecosystem becomes to criminals. A larger digital payments network creates more touchpoints, more users, more merchants, more agents, more applications and more opportunities for fraudsters to probe for weak links.
This is the difficult contradiction facing Ghana’s mobile money industry. The same expansion that makes the system valuable also makes it vulnerable.
The migration of banking and payment services from physical branches to mobile applications and third-party platforms has widened access to finance. But it has also created new entry points for criminals, especially where customers or new service providers do not fully understand emerging fraud methods.
Mr Tamakloe said new customers and service providers entering the market are often particularly vulnerable because they may lack sufficient knowledge of how fraudsters operate. Some criminals, he said, also exploit legitimate features available on mobile applications and digital platforms to deceive customers.
This is a critical point. Fraud does not always require a weakness in the technology itself. Sometimes criminals exploit features designed for convenience — fast transfers, easy onboarding, payment prompts, digital credit access, merchant links and wallet-to-bank movements. A platform can be functioning as designed, while criminals misuse its speed and flexibility to move stolen funds.
For regulators and industry operators, the lesson is clear: fraud prevention must evolve with product design. Every new feature must be assessed not only for customer convenience, but also for how it could be exploited by criminals.
The rise in reported fraud attempts also raises a more thought-provoking question. Is the increase a sign that fraud is worsening, or that more customers are reporting suspicious activity? The answer may be both.
A 63.00% rise in reported attempts suggests that fraudsters are becoming more active. But it may also indicate that customers are more willing and able to report attempted attacks. That makes the data more useful than a simple fraud-loss figure. It shows pressure on the system, but also growing resistance inside the customer base.
That is why Mr Tamakloe called for fraud statistics to be evaluated alongside transaction growth, customer awareness and the number of unsuccessful attacks, rather than being interpreted in isolation.
This approach is important because raw fraud numbers can mislead. If transaction values rise sharply, some increase in fraud attempts may be expected. But if successful incidents rise much slower than attempted attacks, it may show that education, monitoring and controls are reducing the conversion rate from attempt to loss.
The industry should therefore track not only how much money is lost, but how many attacks are stopped, how quickly customers report them, how fast suspicious funds are frozen, and which tactics fraudsters are using most frequently.
For Ghana’s digital economy, the stakes are high. Mobile money has become one of the country’s most important financial platforms, particularly for the informal sector, small businesses, market traders, households and people outside traditional banking networks.
If users trust the system, digital payments can reduce cash dependence, improve transaction efficiency, support formalisation and deepen financial inclusion. But if fraud becomes too common, even small losses can have large behavioural consequences. Customers may return to cash, avoid digital credit, reject merchant payment links or become suspicious of legitimate service messages.
Trust is therefore the real currency of mobile money. Once it weakens, rebuilding it can be harder than recovering stolen funds.
Mr Tamakloe’s remarks suggest that Ghana still has an opportunity to contain the risk before it becomes a deeper crisis. Customers are learning. Public education appears to be working. Fraud attempts are being reported. Many attacks are being stopped before they become losses.
But the industry cannot become complacent. A 63.00% monthly rise in fraud attempts is a warning that criminal networks are adapting quickly. The fact that successful incidents are rising by about 3.00% is encouraging, but it should not become a reason to relax. It should become a reason to strengthen what is working.
That means sustained customer education, stronger transaction monitoring, faster reporting channels, better collaboration between mobile money operators, banks, fintech firms and telecommunications companies, and more aggressive action against fraud networks.
It also requires clearer public messaging. Customers must know what service providers will never ask for. They must know how to report fraud attempts immediately. They must understand that one-time pins, passwords and approval prompts are not casual information. They must also be taught to pause before responding to urgency, threats or reward-based messages.
The future of Ghana’s digital payments system will not be determined only by innovation. It will be determined by whether users feel safe enough to keep transacting.
Mr Tamakloe’s message is therefore both reassuring and cautionary. Fraudsters are attacking more frequently, but customers are no longer as passive as before. Awareness is becoming a defence tool.
The real test now is whether Ghana’s mobile money ecosystem can turn that awareness into a permanent shield before fraudsters find the next weak point.
