SIM re-registration and blocking of phones to help deal with MoMo fraudsters
To reduce the activities of fraudsters in Mobile Money (MoMo) activities, the largest mobile money operator, MTN Ghana Ghana has developed aggressive mechanisms to deal with the fraudsters and protect the accounts of subscribers.
These new tactics have become important because they are expected to be effective ways of curbing the incessant acts of mobile money fraud in the country.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh, in an interview noted the new measure adopted will disincentivise fraudsters given the likely cost implication to them.
According to him, MTN Ghana collaborating with the regulator the National Communications Authority (NCA) has come up with a new strategy where when a fraudster commits fraud with a particular cell phone, the cell phone will be blocked across all networks in the country rendering the phone useless and as such to make use of any network in the country, the fraudster has to buy a new phone.
Again we believe the SIM Re-registration will also go a long way to help fight the fraudsters who have made lives very uncomfortable for MoMo users in the country.
“So far we’ve all seen and I’m sure you can attest that the complaints of MoMo fraud has gone down and this is due to a number of things we have done like collaborating with our partners the Ghana Telecoms Chamber. Together we have formed an alliance and created a barrier that makes being a fraudster very hard.
“So what we’ve done is that today if you commit fraud with a particular phone, that phone within a matter of hours will be blocked across all networks in Ghana, not the SIM but the phone. So if you are a fraudster what that means is that you will keep buying phones and that’s very costly,” he stated.
“In addition to that, we are working with the Ghana Police Service to arrest fraudsters so they go through the prosecution process but let me also point out that the SIM Re-registration exercise by the regulator will also go a long way to help industry players fight fraudsters,” he noted further.
Mobile Money services are extremely attractive to fraudsters. The recent requirement of needing an ID (Identity Document) card to make a withdrawal at the MoMo agent shows that the fight against MoMo fraud is still yet to be won.
Again, MTN Ghana recently secured a partner for its artificial intelligence platform to fight mobile money fraud. The $2.5 million valued artificial intelligence is said to be able to predict and trace fraudster activities on the mobile money platform.
The telecom giant saw the need to invest such an amount because fraud has become a huge problem particularly on the MTN mobile money platform, largely because it is the most used platform and has the biggest market share of about 70 percent
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In a related development, the Vice President to the Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA) Kofi Ahovi commenting on the matter of MoMo Fraud and the issues can be dealt with decisively, called on Ghanaians especially the mobile money users to take advantage to the SIM Registration and get the Momo sim cards registered. According to him the move to have all old SIM cards re-registered in the country is one sure way of fighting the mobile money fraud in the country
“We are aware that the use of fake ID cards by fraudsters has made the identification and prosecution process very difficult but the efforts of the government to ensure that every mobile phone holder registers his/her SIM card with a secured Ghana identity card (Ghana Card and passport) will, if not eliminate fraud, drastically reduce fraudulent activities within the sector. We encourage every mobile phone holder to re-register their SIM cards so that we win together,” Mr. Ahovi stated.
Journalists for Business Advocacy (JBA), is a non for profit media advocacy group that advocates a cordial and standardized operating environment for businesses in Ghana.
The group also provides a potent platform for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) that bring to the fore the sector’s contribution to national development as well as challenges to enhance growth.The association was born out of a training programme by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund serving as a focal point for businesses on the media front.
This was after a core team of journalists undertook capacity development in business advocacy to create a multimedia platform to discuss the concerns of business, particularly SMEs.Currently, we have membership of over 70 journalists across the whole country except the Volta Region.
We have been advocating on behalf of businesses so that the numerous challenges they face could be brought to the attention of policy makers for consideration and action.
