The country’s largest mobile telephony operator, MTN has collaborated with Ghana Police Service to arrest three mobile money fraudsters.
The three suspects were apprehended on April 20, after MTN officials shared a tip-off with the police in Accra.
The arrests is said to have taken place at Santa Maria, a suburb of Accra, where the suspected fraudsters are believed to reside.
According to the Police, the modus operandi of the fraudsters include sending scam messages requesting unsuspecting subscribers to call specific numbers to redeem cash prizes.
The unsuspecting customers are then lured into sending money into the scammers’ Mobile Money wallets as a precondition for receiving the nonexistent prizes.
During the arrest, the police officers discovered eight SIM cards, seven mobile phones and one laptop with numerous incriminating scam messages about to be sent to other victims.
A quantification exercise carried out also revealed that the fraudsters had earlier defrauded customers to the tune of GH¢ 7,200.
The arrest comes at a time when mobile financial services sector has been plagued with an increasing spate of customer-related fraud cases.
As pioneers of the Mobile Money service in Ghana, MTN said it has committed to actively educate stakeholders in order to reduce fraud.
To this end, the communications giant, in partnership with the E-Crime Bureau, has organised a series of workshops and community engagements to sensitize subscribers, security personnel and other identifiable groups.
Speaking at a workshop held on mobile money, Eli Hini, General Manager, MTN Ghana Mobile Money said: “The MTN Mobile Money service is committed to providing the highest level of security to protect its users.
The system and processes conform to best practices in the industry and the service is highly regulated by the relevant authorities.
We encourage all our valued Mobile Money customers to be vigilant and take steps to protect their pin codes.”