The mobile money revolution has transformed financial inclusion in Africa. What began as a workaround for banking’s physical limits is now a core part of the digital economy. In Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and beyond, mobile wallets power everything from school fees and groceries to tax payments and salary disbursements. But as mobile money deepens its roots, fraud has followed closely behind — and increasingly, it’s the customer who bears the brunt.
Fraudsters no longer need physical weapons to rob. A fake text message, a cloned SIM card, or a persuasive voice on the other end of a call is often enough. The fallout is not just lost funds. It’s lost trust. And in a market built on behavioral change and digital confidence, trust is the foundation of everything.
While regulators and providers have made strides in securing systems, fraud is not just a technical problem. It’s also a human challenge — one that demands reframing mobile money security through a customer-centric lens.
The Shifting Face of Mobile Money Fraud
Gone are the days when mobile money fraud meant brute-force SIM swap schemes or malware-laced SMS spam. Today’s fraud is nuanced, social, and psychological. Fraudsters use manipulation, impersonation, and even social media insights to deceive users. They exploit gaps in digital literacy, weak know your customer (KYC) processes, and the absence of real-time verification tools.
In Ghana, common scams include fake promotional messages asking users to “confirm their PIN” to receive winnings, impersonation of mobile network agents, and unauthorized SIM replacements. Victims often realize too late — and in most cases, recourse is limited, cumbersome, or non-existent.
The burden disproportionately affects low-income users, women, the elderly, and new digital adopters. For them, even small losses can trigger financial exclusion. They don’t just lose money; they lose faith in the system.
Why the Current Model Falls Short
Most anti-fraud strategies today are system-centric: improving backend authentication, introducing transaction limits, or flagging suspicious patterns. These measures are important, but they assume the customer is passive — a node to be monitored or protected from afar.
This model fails because fraud enters through the customer. The strongest firewalls mean little if a user gives away their credentials to a fake agent. Fraudsters bypass algorithms by targeting human vulnerabilities. And yet, most fraud mitigation measures focus on the tech — not the people.
In many markets, the process for reporting fraud remains deeply frustrating. Users are passed between telcos and regulators. Refund policies are unclear. Investigations are opaque. Meanwhile, fraudsters adapt in real time, while institutional responses lag behind.
Global Lessons on Putting the Customer First
Several organizations and countries are beginning to shift the paradigm. The GSMA — the global body representing mobile operators — has emphasized customer-centric risk frameworks that build in user behavior, communication preferences, and education. Its Mobile Money Certification standards include criteria on transparency, customer care, and fraud mitigation that directly consider the end-user experience.
In Kenya, where M-Pesa has become a lifeline, Safaricom has invested heavily in real-time fraud detection, but also in humanizing customer support. Users can reverse a wrong transaction within seconds. Shortcodes to report fraud are simple and free. And importantly, customer feedback loops are used to refine fraud training materials — closing the distance between platform and user.
India has taken an interesting route with its Unified Payments Interface (UPI), where biometric authentication and QR-based verification are widespread. But critically, the Reserve Bank of India mandates that customers should not be liable for fraud if they report it promptly — a rare but effective policy that tilts responsibility back to service providers.
Meanwhile, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) have called for regulatory harmonization to ensure shared fraud databases, clearer redress mechanisms, and customer protection as a core performance metric — not just a compliance checkbox.
A New Model: Customer-Centric Cybersecurity
To truly mitigate mobile money fraud, fintech providers and regulators must adopt what can be termed customer-centric cybersecurity — a model that integrates security directly into the user journey, education, and trust-building strategies.
This begins with design. User interfaces should nudge safe behavior — showing verification prompts when sending money, alerting users to high-risk contacts, or embedding tips within the app itself. Behavioral science can guide how warnings are framed, making them more effective than generic “use strong PINs” campaigns.
Real-time communication is equally vital. Fraudsters operate fast. Providers must respond faster. That means automated alerts, easy fraud reporting, instant transaction reversals, and trained human support that is empathetic, informed, and empowered to act.
But perhaps the most important shift is psychological: platforms must stop blaming the user. When fraud occurs, the question should not be, “Why did the user fall for this?” but rather, “What didn’t we do to prevent it?” That’s the essence of a customer-centric mindset.
Providers also need to engage in localized digital literacy — not just as CSR, but as core risk mitigation. Fraud tactics differ between cities, cultures, and age groups. Education must be tailored, continuous, and delivered in local languages through trusted community channels.
And finally, accountability must be shared. Regulators should require that providers offer fraud compensation schemes, publish incident data, and collaborate on shared intelligence to stay ahead of evolving scams. Competition must not trump coordination when public trust is on the line.
Scenario: A Model Worth Building
Picture this: A mobile money user in Tamale receives a suspicious call claiming to be from a mobile operator. Before the caller finishes, the user gets a real-time in-app warning: “Be alert — our systems detected a high-risk call pattern. Never share your PIN.” At the same time, they receive an SMS with a one-click option to report suspicious activity.
The user doesn’t panic. They’ve seen community-led digital safety videos. They know how fraud works. And they trust their provider will act — because last time a friend lost money, it was refunded within 24 hours. Behind the scenes, the provider’s fraud system logs the call metadata, flags the number, and shares the intelligence with regulators and other operators.
This is not a futuristic fantasy. Every component exists. What’s missing is the will to build with the customer at the center, not just the technology at the core.
Conclusion: Trust Is the New Infrastructure
As mobile money matures, security must mature with it. Not just in code and encryption, but in culture — a culture that treats customers not as liabilities, but as partners in defense.
Fraud won’t disappear. But when customers are respected, educated, empowered, and supported, it loses its grip. And in a sector where adoption depends on confidence, mitigating fraud through a customer-centric approach is not just good ethics. It’s good business.
Ghana and Africa at large have the chance to lead — not by mimicking Silicon Valley, but by building models rooted in digital empathy, community intelligence, and localized trust. Because in mobile money, the most secure system is the one the customer believes in.
The Writer
Desmond Israel Esq. is a Partner at AGNOS Legal Company, the founder of Information Security Architects Ltd and a Law lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Law School. He is also a thought-leader, lawyer and technology law expert with an LL.M in National Security and Cybersecurity from George Washington University as a GWLaw Merit Scholar. He was a former fellow with the Center for AI and Digital Policy in Washington DC and a member of IIPGH.
Email: desmond.israel@gmail.com
