MTN Ghana has developed aggressive mechanisms to deal with mobile money fraudsters and protect customers’ wallets from them.
The step is to discourage Mobile Money fraud, which is still going on in earnest, in spite of the Covid-19 outbreak and it attendant issues.
General Manager of Mobile Financial Services at MTN Ghana, Mr Eli Hini, disclosed this Wednesday when the telecom company launched the 2020 “MoMo Month” in Accra to reward loyal customers, merchants and agents of the service.
He said in the last quarter, MTN made 22 arrests with regard to acts of defrauding, and said MTN was prepared to deal bitterly with such perpetrators should they be caught.
“This is to those who have made defrauding a practice, they should watch out because we are coming for them,” he cautioned.
Mr Hini said the fraudsters could have their way only when subscribers entertained phone calls or text messages from them.
He advised users of the service not to disclose their pins to anyone, entertain calls or text messages from anybody who tried to discuss their account details with them or allow anyone to do transactions on their behalf.
The General Manager said although COVID-19 had brought a lot of challenges and unfortunate happenings, it had helped to promote digital transactions, which was geared towards promoting a cashless economy.
“People who didn’t see the importance of MoMo now appreciate it because it was very useful during the lockdown period when people were forced to stay home, because it was a medium of payment of goods and services,” he added.
Mr Abdul-Majeed Rufai, the Senior Manager, Commercial, MTN Ghana, reiterated the need for customers of MoMo to be vigilant regarding any contact they got to discuss their MoMo wallet.
He said MTN only called customers with ‘0244300000’ and therefore warned users to disregard calls or text messages from any other number that tried to reach them over their account or transactions.
He encouraged subscribers to report numbers that fraudsters used to call or text them to the toll free number ‘1515’ or ‘100’ and also to the mail, ‘mmfraudteam.gh’ for the company to take an immediate action against the act.
Explaining the outlined activities for the MoMo Month, Mr Rufai said the
MoMo Month, which will take effect from today August 5, to the end of September, will include the Consumer Promo to reward loyal customers with cash prices, and quiz on social media to reward customers.
It will also hold digital fairs to enable customers to purchase online and receive free delivery, and virtual stakeholders’ conference to discuss how to promote a cashless economy.