Mobile Money (MoMo) is a popular service in Ghana that allows users to transfer money, pay bills, and buy goods using their mobile phones. However, MoMo fraud is also a serious problem that affects many customers and service providers.
According to a report by the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the total amount of money lost to MoMo fraud in 2022 was twice as much as in 2021, despite a slight decrease in the number of fraud cases reported.
The report revealed that MoMo fraudsters stole GHS27 million in 2022, compared to GHS14.2 million in 2021, which is a 47% increase. Some of the money was recovered, but the actual loss was still around GHS26 million.
The report also showed that there were 12,166 MoMo fraud cases in 2022, which is slightly lower than the 12,350 cases in 2021. This means that the average amount of money lost per case was higher in 2022 than in 2021.
The most common types of fraud were wrong transfers (where customers mistakenly send money to a wrong MoMo account and the receiver quickly withdraws it) and cash reversals (where fraudsters trick customers into reversing a fake transaction from their account).
