Top 10 tricks fraudsters use to target mobile money clients

 

Suspects in a mobile money fraud case in Rusizi District are paraded before the media at RIB Headquaters in Kigali on February 4. . / Sam Ngendahimana.

By

Collins Mwai

With the increased uptake and adoption of Mobile Money across the country, operations by

fraudsters to take advantage of unsuspecting clients have been on the rise and ‘constantly improving.’

The increased tricks by the fraudsters at times befall unsuspecting clients while in other instances, awareness by local telcos and authorities has improved public insight to the tricks.

 

According to Rwanda Investigation Bureau, the top ways mobile money users should be on the lookout for include the following’

 

1. Sending edited messages to clients claiming to have sent money erroneously

 

Among the common tricks used by fraudsters include sending text messages to customers claiming purporting to come from telecommunication companies, informing them that they have received money on their accounts.

Then, they will immediately call their victims asking them to reverse the money.

Often, unsuspecting clients fall for this trick by failing to confirm the receipt of the money or their account balance before reacting to the request.

2. Prompting cash-out transactions without customers consent

RIB told The New Times that at times, a fraudster prompts a cash out transaction on a mobile money account without a customer’s consent before calling them to ask them to enter their PIN.

When an unsuspecting clients enter their PIN they in effect confirm the cash-out transaction and the money goes to a fraudster.

3. Sharing of PINs between customers or agents.

In other instances, fraudsters purporting to be Mobile Money agents ask customers to share their Personal Identification Numbers to assist them in transactions which they later use to access the mobile money accounts and access their funds.

4. Fraudsters stealing customers’ bank credentials and ‘pull money’ from their accounts.

With most banks offering push and pull services allowing users move funds between their bank accounts and Mobile Money accounts, fraudsters often steal customers’ credentials which they use to later their ‘pull’ funds from clients’ bank accounts.

5. Fraudsters stealing customers/agents’ handsets and PIN

Fraudsters at times make attempts to access customers or mobile money agents’ handsets and use them to access mobile money accounts and ‘wipe’ out their funds.

6. Fraudsters hacking customers’ WhatsApp accounts and sending requests to victim’s friends and relatives to send them money in their names.

According to the Rwanda Investigative Bureau, they have also received cases where fraudsters access a mobile user’s WhatsApp account and send messages to the victim’s friends and family requesting them to send money (either as small loans and donations).

Incidents of such cases have been reported severally with unsuspecting friends and relatives sending funds to fraudsters unknowingly.

7. Agents fraudulently swapping customers Sim cards and stealing their money.

There have also been cases where mobile money agents have been found to swap customers SIM cards and later access customers’ funds. Sim swap fraud is account takeover that begins with a fraudster gathering personal details about the victim, contacting the victim’s mobile telephone provider impersonating the victim using personal details to appear authentic and claiming that they have lost their phone. In most instances, it is done by fraudsters working closely with telco agents.

8. Impersonating telecom agents

Fraudsters calling customers or mobile money agents and pretend to be Telecom company  staff and ask them to put some codes in their phones and in effect approve cash-outs unknowingly.

9. Fraudulent registration of SIM cards

Fraudulent agents registering Sim cards using other customers’ IDs without their consent and later use the Sim cards to defraud others customers. In this instances, they often use the identities of the persons whose details are registered to access their accounts.

10. Cheating customers through MoMo Pay

Some fraudulent agents have also been found to be using Mobile Money pay accounts (MOMO Pay) to cash-out and in turn charge customers more fees compared to normal MoMo pay charges.