The new directive from government is part of moves to fight mobile money fraud which has gained momentum over the past months.

[contextly_sidebar id=”bTdqahHjF176AGXyhGK4LKSCsQIYgvTZ”]Citi Business News understands the re-registration will be rolled out immediately after the national identification card comes into force.

Speaking to Citi Business News on the sidelines of the National Cyber Security Week 2017, Head of IT at the National Identification Authority(NIA), Matilda Wilson, expressed optimism that the re-registration of mobile money accounts will help curb fraud in the industry.

“It is necessary that the National Identification Authority sees to it that there is re-registration, so that all accounts can be verified from NIA. So after we certify you from the offices at NIA, then you go back to register as a mobile money user. The telcos now have a verified record on you sitting on their database so they can use that data to move on with their businesses.”

 Mobile Money Fraud in Ghana

Ghanaians have expressed worry over the increasing cases of Mobile Money fraud in the country.

The issue is said to threaten the growth of the industry as well as affect financial inclusion.

Mobile money, which hitherto was a safe means of transacting business now seems to be an opportunity for scammers.

Some of the methods they use include text messages and phone calls.

Ordeals of victims

Some victims of Mobile Money fraud who narrated their ordeal to Citi Business News expressed concern about the new trend.

A victim who was swindled of GH¢1, 000 told Citi Business News his experience occurred when he approached a vendor to send money to a business partner.

“Personally, I didn’t think that I could be defrauded, but the danger here is that, we should all just change our minds because even if they don’t defraud you physically they can end up defrauding the person you are sending the money to” he said.

“I gave the vendor the number so he did the transaction. Before I even got close to my car, the receiver called me that he has received the money. Later my business partner called again telling me that after I sent the money to him, he had a call from the vendor telling him that in the course of sending the money in the form of cash, he made a mistake and sent the money in the form of credit.”

“The vendor told him that for him to be able to resend the money in the form of liquid for him to be able to take it out, he is going to send him some commands that  he’s supposed to approve and afterwards he is supposed to delete the text message that brought the original cash” he added.

One of the vendors who gave her name as Mabel at Spintex, complained about a repeated act where cash sent are converted into airtime after which the receivers get calls from anonymous persons.

“I am a vendor and it is only MTN I have, this issue keeps recurring sometimes when I transfer money, the receiver gets it in credit. Then they get a call from another person telling them to follow certain steps to convert into cash only for them to be swindled,” she said.

CID tasks telecom operators to be vigilant in their operations

Telecom operators have over the period tried to warn the public about mobile money fraud through media announcements, but the situation has not improved.

Subsequently, Head of Cyber-crime Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), Chief Superintendent Dr. Herbert Yankson, told Citi Business News that Telcos must be vigilant in their operations as it remains a key factor in fighting the crime.

“A lot of the data in there are incorrect. People are registering with false identity and unfortunately, the Telco’s don’t have a way to validate the kind of identity that they present to them and those are the challenges” he lamented.

He however gave assurance that the police are working earnestly to clamp down on the rate at which mobile money fraud is rising.

CID warns telecom operators

According to the CID, the sale of pre- registered SIM cards contributes to mobile money fraud in the country.

Statistics show that, at least fifty percent of Mobile Money subscribers have either experienced one form of fraud or have been a target from Mobile Money fraudsters.

In an interview with Citi Business News, Head of Cyber Security at the CID, Chief Superintendent, Dr. Herbert Yankson, said telecom operators must call their agents to order else risk being penalized for selling already registered SIM cards.

“Already registered SIM cards are sold openly and we are aware. We started some kind of exercise arresting them. But the truth is that, we have to arrest them together with the Telecom operators because they are their clients. So eventually, we will bring them on board” he said.

He however added that, all stakeholders must be involved to ensure the issue of mobile money fraud is completely stopped.

“So these are all things that we all as a people must put in place to ensure that we are able to protect the ordinary person from being defrauded” he added.

MTN Ghana refutes claims of staff involvement in mobile money fraud

An internal inquiry by the Criminal Investigations Department of the Police Service (CID) revealed that, some staff of telecommunication companies are complicit in the rise of mobile money fraud.

According to the CID, five out of ten customers have also been targeted for mobile money fraud. This notwithstanding, the Department has also complained of little cooperation on the part of the telcos in bringing the perpetrators to book.

Reacting to the claims however, the General Manager for Mobile Money Financial Services, Eli Hini said staff of MTN Ghana were not accomplices in the supposed fraud cases.

“The partnership between us and the Police is unquestionable. We took the first step to educate and build capacity for the Police Service so they will be able to understand the modus operandi of these fraudsters so that they can also support us in the fight against fraud. So for them to say that we are not cooperating is not the right picture”, he said.

Mr. Hini also stated that, staff of MTN Ghana were not accomplices in the supposed fraud cases.

“None of our staff has been arrested and let me put it on record that our staff are not involved in protecting these fraudsters and no one is working behind the scenes to assist these fraudsters.”

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By: Anita Arthur/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana

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A recent internal inquiry by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) had revealed that in some of the cases, some employees of telecommunication companies, were found to be complicit in the act.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Yw2jUvx5YdDcJrzhVNMzt9aN8i4LtNaI”]Telco staff are reported to without authorization, access the database of mobile money merchants, and change the registration details of customers in order to withdraw money from their accounts.

Reports indicate that, the staff who are in agreement with criminals, sometimes reset the number with the money to a new owner in the database, which gives the new owner access to change the PIN and withdraw monies.

They then acquire new SIM cards and use the pins to withdraw monies from merchants.

The General Manager of Mobile Financial Services at MTN, Eli Hini, on Eyewitness News however insisted no employee of MTN had ever been implicated in these fraudulent activities.

“None of our staff has been arrested and let me put it on record that our staff are not involved in protecting these fraudsters and no one is working behind the scenes to assist these fraudsters.”

He also dismissed suggestions by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) that his outfit and other telcos are failing to cooperate with the former’s attempt to address the challenge.

The Director in charge of Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent, Dr. Herbert Gustav Yankson, had expressed worry that managers of some mobile telecom operators do not give the necessary information to the police concerning suspects in mobile money fraud who work in the telcos.

Mr. Hini however rubbished these suggestions, saying “The partnership between us and the Police is unquestionable. We took the first step to educate and build capacity for the Police Service so they will be able to understand the modus operandi of these fraudsters so that they can also support us in the fight against fraud,  so for them to say that we are not cooperating is not the right picture.”

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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The post MTN staff not involved in mobile money fraud – Manager appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This follows an internal inquiry by the CID which revealed that, some staff of telecommunication companies are complicit in the act.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Rea6ef6teYFExrLwVvd40qHwhLmCaDJT”]Telco staff are reported to, without authorization, access the database of mobile money merchants, and change the registration details of customers in order to withdraw money from their accounts.

The Director in charge of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Dr. Herbert Gustav Yankson, told Citi News that, “during investigations, we have observed that apart from the data that is incorrect, we have situations where we’ve seen that staff of telcos are part of the syndicate.”

Reports indicate that, the staff who are in league with criminals, sometimes reset the number with the money to a new owner in the database, which gives the new owner access to change the PIN and withdraw monies.

They then acquire new SIM cards and use the pins to withdraw monies from merchants.

Initially, the fraudsters could send a text or call, and tell subscribers that they have won some lottery so they should send them money to claim their prize.

The moment subscribers send the money, the fraudsters withdraw it and get rid of their SIM so that subscribers can never reach them again.

Their recent strategy is to call subscribers and tell them that, there is a problem with an account, and offer to help resolve them.

Supt. Dr. Gustav Yankson expressed worry that managers of some mobile telecom operators do not give the necessary information to the police concerning suspects in mobile money fraud who work in the telcos.

“We had series of issues where we have written to them [telcos] that ‘from this case we suspect that someone within who is helping the criminals to do the job, and can you find out from internal investigations.?’ Something they wouldn’t answer to, or they will come and tell us that they’ve done the investigation, but they will not tell us who is behind the act. They [telcos] will tell you to go to court,” he lamented.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Telcos not cooperating in mobile money fraud fight – CID appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The service, which has been touted as the innovation to bring banking to the doorsteps of the unbanked, is turning out to be a monster depriving mostly poor people of their little money.

What is even worrying is that, it is very difficult for security agencies to track down the perpetrators due to the use of fake identities.

The Director in charge of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Dr. Herbert Gustave Yankson, told The Finder that, as a result of fake identifies, the unit is able to investigate and prosecute only 10% of cases reported, due primarily to the use of fake identities to register SIM cards.

Mobile money, a time-bomb.

He described mobile money as a time-bomb waiting to explode, unless something drastic is done to curb the increasing fraud in the system.

50% of Subscribers experienced fraud or have been a target.

It is estimated that, at least five out of 10 mobile money subscribers have either experienced one form of fraud or have been a target for mobile money fraudsters/scammers.

How subscribers are targeted

Subscribers are mainly targeted through Short Message Service (SMS), phone calls, e-mails and social media platforms, among others.

Confidence in mobile money waning

The increase in reported fraud cases involving some unscrupulous persons and confidence tricksters of mobile money services, is eroding confidence in the system.

Telcos staff involved

What is even disturbing is that, fraudsters arrested by the Cyber Crime Unit included staff of mobile telecommunication companies, who illegally infiltrate the database of telecom companies they work for, and use the information to commit mobile money fraud.

Telcos staff infiltrate database

The Finder learnt that, these employees, without authorization, access the database of mobile money merchants and change the registration details of customers in order to withdraw money from their accounts.

Telcos staff change pin number of customers in the database.

These staff of telecom companies who are in league with criminals then reset the number with the money to a new owner in the database, which gives the new owner access to change the PIN and withdraw monies.

Telcos staff withdraw monies from customers’ accounts.

They then acquire new SIM cards and use the pins to withdraw monies from merchants.

Other modus operandi of the fraudsters.

Initially, the fraudsters could send a text or call and tell subscribers that they have won some lottery so they should send them money to claim their prize.

The moment subscribers send the money, the fraudsters withdraw it and get rid of their SIM so that subscribers can never reach them again.

Their recent strategy is to call subscribers and tell them that there is a problem with account and offer to help resolve the problem.

For instance, victims are told that an amount they received in their account has been wrongly transferred as airtime, and the criminals offer to assist subscribers to convert it back to cash.

The fraudsters then ask subscribers to get another phone so they can take the subscriber through the process, and if the subscribers are not conversant with the system (like most users who do not understand English properly and hence cannot figure out what they may be doing), the criminals make subscribers to generate a code for an ATM withdrawal or get subscribers to send money to their phones, and they bolt with it.

Other criminals also call and tell their victims they have wrongly sent money to their account so they beg the subscribers in the name of all the deities to send it back to them, and once the subscribers do that, the criminals withdraw immediately and get rid of their SIMs.

As the newest fraud technique emerging, some subscribers, without having performed any transaction, receive text messages of withdrawal of money from their accounts.

Money laundering.

Dr Yankson sees mobile money as fertile ground for money laundering considering the volume of money circulating through mobile money.

Is BoG monitoring money laundering through mobile money?

Till date, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) has not made any pronouncement on monitoring of mobile money for money laundering transactions.

Sale of pre-registered SIM cards

Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson explained that agents of telecom companies are selling pre-registered SIM cards in contravention of the law.
Use of fake identities for SIM cards registration
In addition, he said the fraudsters also use fake identities to register SIM cards, and this is possible because the telecom companies are not doing real-time and post-registration verification of identities presented by subscribers.

He stated that the telecom companies always use the lack of a national database as excuse for not doing real-time verification.

Telcos say private solutions expensive.

Even though there exists solutions developed by private companies, he said, the telecoms say they cannot afford.

Proceeds of crime hidden on mobile money.

Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson disclosed that use of fake identities has made it easy for criminals to also use mobile money to receive and hide proceeds of crime.

He noted that when the right identity is used in registration, it makes fighting crime such as mobile money fraud easy and less expensive.

Chief Superintendent Dr Yankson advised mobile money subscribers to change their Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) at least once every month, not to save their PIN Codes in their mobile devices, password protect their phones, and not share or give their PIN out to third parties.

Law on SIM card registration.

Parliament in 2012 adopted the Subscriber Identity Module Registration Regulations, 2011 (L.I. 2006) to give backing to SIM card registration in the country.

Failed SIM card registration.

Telecom companies were made to register all SIM cards, but at the end of the exercise, it was discovered that the registration was full of fake identities and other challenges.

SIM card registration to be done again.

Consequently, the government at the time decided that the registration should be repeated when the National Identification Authority builds the national database of all Ghanaians.

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By: Finder Newspaper

The post Staff of telcos accomplices in mobile money fraud – Police appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Has a man ever told you of some plans he had to hang out with his friends, or travel somewhere by himself for whatever reason, and you pretended to be perfectly okay with it because you didn’t want to seem “needy”?

But then later, when he came back … BAM! All those hurt, angry feelings came out, he withdrew, and then there’s a wedge between the two of you. You might conclude that you can’t be honest with a man, when in reality a little tweaking in terms of timing and delivery can make all the difference.

#1. Stop Avoiding the Issue and Start Speaking Up
Here’s something you may not know about men, or even agree with, but it’s true: A man absolutely wants you to be honest and straightforward with him. This is what men like so much about the way they can communicate with each other. And, in fact, it drives them nuts when you aren’t open and direct.

If they are planning something that you don’t agree with, they want you to let them know at the start — as soon as possible — before it becomes a bigger issue or concern.

Here’s the beauty of telling a man what you think early on: It allows you to communicate in a way that’s less combative and negative than it would be if you were to have it fester in your mind for a while.

#2. Understand the Real Reason He Gets Upset With You
Men don’t “automatically” get upset when you let them know how you feel about something. They get upset when they see that YOU are upset.

See, for most men, when a woman tells them something that isn’t great about their relationship, men take it very personally. He’ll instantly feel like you are blaming him — even though you might not be. Why? Men like to think and believe that the woman they’re with respects them and sees them as a great man. So when a woman shares something that isn’t “perfect,” a man will take it as you thinking that he is not good enough — and not just that something happened in your relationship that can easily be changed or improved in the future.

To stop this cycle of a man feeling criticized, or like he doesn’t please you, you first need to find a “safe space” before you talk and share your feelings with him. Here’s how to do it:

#3. Create a Safe Space for Both Of You to Open Up
By “safe,” I mean telling a man that what you think, feel and need will not jeopardize your connection, but instead make it stronger.

Here’s your action plan: Sit down with him today at some time when you’re both settled and relaxed.  Then tell him that you respect his feelings, and that you appreciate the way he respects yours. (If you don’t believe this right now, simply the act of communicating these words will have a profoundly positive effect on him and actually help create more respect and appreciation — because you get what you give!)

Then explain that communicating as early as possible and allowing that safe space to tell each other how you really feel and that you need to be open and honest with each other in the moment is crucial to your happiness — yours and his.

What you’re doing here is essentially agreeing together to accept and allow for each other’s real feelings — regardless of whether they happen to please the other person in that moment. This kind of real and authentic honesty is the first step, and the one and only path to a real, secure and lasting relationship where both partners know that their feelings are heard and respected.

Source: Magazine.foxnews.com

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