'We are working to make mobile fraud expensive' - Telecommunications Chamber

Head of Research and Communications Unit, Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Mr. Derek Laryea has said his outfit is working with stakeholders to make mobile fraud an expensive venture in the country.

According to him, the Chamber is considering the blocking of phones used in such transactions and blacklisting the identity of such users across all telecommunication networks.

This is because persons who indulge in fraud using mobile phones do not find it costly when their chips are blocked because mobile chips usually cost just GH¢1.00

Mr. Laryea said this at a forum held in Accra to discuss Mobile Money Fraud and the way Forward," at a Cybersecurity workshop.

He said even though the systems handling Mobile Money transactions are secured, most people fall victim to fraudsters due to vulnerabilities on their side.

Mr. Godwin Kwami Tamakloe, Senior Manager, Risk compliance and Anti-Money Laundering, MTN Ghana, said MTN had invested about 2.5 million dollars into Artificial Intelligence and machine learning to upgrade its existing technology to track down the identity of such fraudsters.

He said in collaboration with the Ghana Police Service, over 50 persons had been arrested for their involvement in Mobile Money related crimes and names of such persons would be published to deter persons indulging in such activities.

Mr. Tamakloe said the collaboration would build the trust of the populace in Service providers.

Dr Herbert G. Yankson, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Director of Cyber Crime, Crime Investigation Department (CID) Headquarters, said there was the need for stakeholders to intensify education, targeting all sectors of the economy, saying, records had shown that number of cases recorded at his office had reduced from 93,000 in 2018 to 49,000 as at June 2020.

He called for collaboration between the telecommunications service providers and the Police Service to facilitate data sharing to enable quick arrest of offenders.