Ghana lost over 5,000 cedis to mobile money fraud alone in 2023 according to Bank of Ghana’s 2023 fraud report.
The cases of mobile money fraud in Ghana are on the rise as fraudsters are leveraging various means to scam both mobile money vendors and users of the mobile money platform.
The Director of Fintech and Innovation at the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Kwame Oppong, cautioned Ghanaians during the swearing-in ceremony of new executives of Mobile Money Advocacy Group.
A recent report by Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA), adjudged Ghana’s Mobile Money Regulatory framework as the number one globally with a score of 95.06%.
The score represents a 2.5% point increase over the previous year’s 92.56%.
Despite this success, there are several drawbacks the country suffers concerning mobile money.
E-money fraud, among the common cyberattacks in Ghana, is something that defeats the purpose of electronic transactions.
The Mobile Money Advocacy Group was established to raise awareness of fraud in the system and protect operators in the sector.
The Group has taken its education on mobile Money fraud to all 16 regions in the country in the past eight years.
In a move to strengthen fraud education, the Mobile Money Advocacy Group has elected new executives to help counter the fraud in the system.
Mobile Money Fraud Statistics in Ghana
The data published by the Bank of Ghana provides insights into the financial losses attributed to fraudulent activities targeting electronic money transactions over the four years from 2020 to 2023.
According to the report, Ghana lost GH¢1,048.15K to E-Money fraud in 2020. The amount saw a substantial increase of over 209% in 2021, reaching GH¢3,244.12K, indicating a significant rise in fraudulent activities.
However, in 2022, there was a sharp decrease of 75.7%, with losses dropping to GH¢787.39K, suggesting improved fraud mitigation efforts.
Unfortunately, in 2023, the monetary value loss surged again to GH¢5,355.14K, representing an increase of 580.113% compared to the previous year.
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