Subscribers and merchants of the mobile money service have been advised not to share their pins with other people.
Mrs. Cynthia Lumour, Corporate Executive of MTN issued this advice to users of the mobile money service.
[contextly_sidebar id=”a3lUZb94ZGNCn94erQ4gybfldF0HAPbx”]She said the hike in the number of mobile money fraud cases could be attributed to the inability of users to hide their pins from vendors and other subscribers.
She has thus warned against sharing pin with other people, adding that users change their pins whenever the need be.
“We advise customers never to share their pin with anybody. And so for example if you’re going to do a transaction, enter the pin yourself, don’t let anyone see it, even the vendor. And if you think someone has seen your pin, you should change it.”
Mrs. Lumour also advised that “if you get a message that says someone has sent you money, make sure you check your balance before you make any transaction.”
There has been an increase recently in the number of fraud cases on the mobile money platform. In 2016, 388 mobile money fraud cases were recorded across all mobile money operators in Ghana.
By May 2017, MTN had recorded about 48 cases of fraud.
The Corporate Executive of MTN assured users of the Telco’s commitment of ensuring that the trend is curtailed, however, she advised users to give extra attention to detail.
“All of the things we can do internally are definitely being done. We have very strict processes in place, nobody can access who doesn’t have a business accessing our networks and we do checks to make sure that there haven’t been unauthorized access”
“But while we are doing the technology related things that can assist with minimizing or eliminating the problem, what we as users can also do is to be aware that these fraudsters are out there. And pay attention when you’re doing your transactions, we tell you, once you put in the phone number you’re transacting to, the name comes up, so make sure that what you type is what you wanted to type in.”
She noted that most fraudsters play on the “sympathy” of most users, warning that, don’t take in such people.”
“We know of cases where somebody will say, ‘oh I was sending money to my sick mother and the last digit was just like yours, and so I sent it to you by accident’, you believe him and send it and realize no money has been sent to you. When anyone says they have sent you money on your phone, even if you believe it check your balance, make sure your balance is what it is, and if someone claims to have sent you money, the balance should reflect that.
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By: Lauretta Timah/citifmonline.com/Ghana