Police cautions public against MoMo fraud

The Ghana Police Service has cautioned the public against the re-emergence of a common type of mobile money fraud.

In a statement issued and signed by the Head, Public Affairs Unit, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Effia Tenge, the police called on the public to take steps against falling victim to this common type of fraud.

According to the police, in this modus, “the fraudster sends an SMS notification to the phone of a targeted victim, indicating that he/she has been credited with money for winning promotion. A few minutes later, the fraudster calls back but this time under the pretext of being an employee of a telecommunication network, and warns that their system has detected attempts by some person(s) to defraud him or her."

“Based on this, the targeted victim is advised to proceed to a nearby mobile money vendor to get the scam attempts blocked. At the mobile money vendor, the fraudster requests to speak with the operator directly on the victim’s phone. On the blind side of the victim, the fraudster authorises a cash transfer from the vendor’s account to his, which the victim is expected to make payments. After the transaction, the mobile money vendor asks the victim for payment, only to realise they have both been defrauded.”

The police advised mobile money vendors to “ensure they collect money before initiating a mobile money transfer.”

The Service also advised the general public “not to entertain any phone conversations with fraudsters, under no circumstances must you share your mobile money pin with anyone.”

It added: “The public should note that the authentic mobile money messages follow existing trends in the SMS box. The message is not sent through personal SMS telephone numbers.”