Day: November 18, 2023

The Keta Municipal Security Council (MUSEC), Volta Region, has cautioned fisherfolks in the area to desist from fishing along coastal areas marked as tidal wave zones to prevent unforeseen disasters.

A statement signed by Mr Innocent Komla Gavua, the Keta Municipal Coordinating Director, and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Saturday, said: ‘MUSEC has noted with much concern the deteriorating state of the coastline along the Agblor Lodge and Aborigines Beach Resort stretch.’

It said the Assembly had written to the Ministry of Works and Housing for support to forestall the costal erosion and save the hospitality facilities along the shoreline.

‘The Assembly would look for proper and everlasting solution to the devastating situation soon,’ it said.

Some residents and visitors along the coastlines and the beaches at Keta have expressed fear that the sea would wash away the entire area if immediate steps were not taken to get a final solution to the problem.

They called on the authorities to, as a matter o
f urgency, construct a standard sea defence wall along those areas to save lives and property.

Meanwhile, during a visit to the affected areas by the GNA, it observed that the sea had washed away some property and destroyed fence walls of some resorts along the coast.

Source: Ghana News Agency

For many years, attaining financial inclusion for all, especially persons within the informal sector of the Ghanaian economy was increasingly challenging.

Persistent instability in the small-scale financial sector, leading to intermittent insolvency of some Banks, Micro-credit institutions, and Savings and Loan Companies made it unattractive for many people to embrace banking services.

The introduction of mobile telecommunications into the country in the 1990s, and subsequently, the adoption of mobile money services in July 2009 changed the dynamics of the banking industry.

It brought financial services closer to the public through existing mobile wallets serving as pseudo-bank accounts.

Mobile money is a type of electronic payment or money transfer service that is based on account wallets held by a mobile telecommunication operator and accessible from subscribers’ mobile phones.

It offers simple person-to-person transactions rather than complex banking transactions and provides an easy, fast, secure an
d cost-effective way of making payments.

A report by market research firm, Imarc Group, on Ghana’s Mobile Money Market, estimates that the market size reached US$121.8 billion in 2022, and it is expected to reach US$590.7 billion by 2028.

It is estimated that about 56.7 million mobile money wallets have been created in Ghana as at the end of 2022 with 20.5 million of them being very active.

The simplicity of transactions, low cost, and widespread accessibility have made the use of mobile money very friendly even to the uneducated folks in the countryside.

However, the enormous gains derived from mobile money are threatened by the activities of mobile money fraudsters. For instance, the Bank of Ghana reported that a total of 12,166 cases of mobile money fraud was recorded in 2022.

This article seeks to shed more light on the nefarious activities of mobile money fraudsters and suggest some measures to combat them.

Types of Mobile Money Fraud

Fraud in Mobile Financial Services defines mobile money fraud a
s ‘the intentional and deliberate action undertaken by players in the mobile financial services ecosystem, aimed at deriving gain (in cash or e-money), and/or denying other players revenue and/or damaging the reputation of the other stakeholders’. Thus, essentially, mobile money fraud is largely perpetuated by players within the mobile money value chain.

Mobile money fraud comes in different forms. However, one can easily group them under the following, based on a study of the Bank of Ghana Annual Fraud Report:

Fake Promotions

Mobile money fraudsters sometimes create enticing promotions, such as fake lotteries, giveaways, or discounted offers, designed to attract potential victims. These promotions are often sent via SMS messages, WhatsApp chats, or via phone calls.

In many instances, the fraudster pretends to be a worker of the mobile operator who has called to help the victim redeem a supposed prize.

The fraudster then begins to ask the victim some series of questions as a means of authenticating the s
upposed winner’s identity and then instructs the victim to follow some basic steps by dialing some shortcodes via an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) string.

As the victim obliges and follows the fraudster’s prompts, a debit message is pushed to the mobile phone of the victim to enter his mobile pin code to redeem the prize. Once the victim completes the entry, the electronic wallet may become compromised and be scammed of funds.

Wrong Transfers

This involves fake SMS requesting a reversal of funds transfer. Thus, the fraudster adopts the posture of seeking to reverse a supposed erroneous transaction.

The Fraudster informs the victim of a wrong deposit and offers to assist in reversing the transaction. Most people fall victim to this scam as they allow the fraudster’s prompt to withdraw money from their wallets.

SIM Card Swaps

SIM card swaps are perhaps one of the most sophisticated forms of mobile money fraud. It may lead to a complete takeover of a person’s mobile money wallet, or someti
mes bank account if the victim has linked the mobile wallet to his traditional bank account.

In SIM card swapping, a fraudster gains unauthorized access to someone’s mobile phone number by manipulating the mobile operator.

Thus, on many occasions, investigations have proven that SIM card swaps were successful with the help of an insider (someone working with the mobile operator). This is because the infrastructure to swap a SIM is owned and controlled largely by the mobile telecommunication company.

When a fraudster successfully swaps a SIM, he can receive all communications intended for the victim. He could receive transaction notifications intended for his victim, including account balances via SMS of his victim and can leverage that to withdraw funds from the wallet.

Fake Product Delivery

Some fraudsters pose as delivery companies and contact their victims under the guise of delivering goods to them from shops or from relatives abroad.

The fraudsters convince their victims that the sender of the pack
age did not pay the full cost of the delivery and demand payment before they can transport the product.

As soon as the victim makes the payment to a given mobile wallet, the fraudster switches off the phone and runs with the funds.

Fake Servicing Agents

Another emerging mobile money fraud type is the situation where people clone the websites of popular retail outlets, especially those that sell electronic products such as televisions mobile phones and air-conditioners.

When unsuspecting shoppers call the numbers displayed on the cloned website, the fraudsters, who are often abreast with knowledge of the products sold by the original retail outlet convince their victims to make mobile money transfers to a given wallet for the services requested.

Such transfers are often described by the fraudsters as commitment fees, and they insist on receiving some payments prior to delivering the service.

Challenges in combating Mobile Money fraud

Mobile money fraud constitutes one of the most common fraud cases in G
hana today, and arresting the menace seems challenging due to various issues, some of which are discussed below:

Weakness in Regulatory Enforcement

The Bank of Ghana has the primary responsibility of regulating the banking industry while the National Communication Authority is responsible for regulating the Mobile Telecommunications Industry.

Thus, to ensure an effective regulation of the mobile money industry, it is imperative that close collaboration exists between these two state institutions.

Admittedly, the Bank of Ghana issues some guidelines and directives to the actors in the industry and advisory notices to the public.

However, enforcing its regulations is often a challenge, because the Bank of Ghana largely depends on commercial banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions to achieve its goal.

On the other hand, the National Communication Authority that has direct regulatory responsibility over the Mobile Telecommunication companies may be lacking the personnel with experience in financia
l market management to effectively monitor and check the mobile operators.

Seeming lack of cooperation from the Mobile Operators

Victims of mobile money fraud have often complained about the seeming lack of cooperation from mobile money operators.

The complainants include individual subscribers, organisations, banks and sometimes Law enforcement officers.

While it is believed that the first three to four hours of any mobile money fraud is usually crucial in tracing the fraudsters, the procedural demands by Telecommunication companies, required for the revelation of the identities of alleged fraudsters, defeats the effort to combat the fraud.

Even when fraudsters are arrested, the funds may have been spent already.

The situation where some mobile operators enable unregistered SIMs to function on their networks also beats efforts aimed at eliminating mobile money fraud..

High Illiteracy Rate

The apparent low literacy levels of victims of mobile money fraud have been another challenge in the fight. Many
the victims of the fraud appear to have attained low levels of education.

Greed

Some fraud examiners have observed over the years that greed has often made people become victims of mobile money fraud and fraud generally.

Some people may not be gullible, but driven by their insatiable drive to make quick money, they tend to believe anything that seems to be a potential means for enriching themselves.

Such people often fall for traps such as ‘fake delivery of goods’ and ‘fake promotions’ among others.

Some Measures to Prevent Mobile Money Fraud

There are different measures that may be adopted to help combat mobile money fraud. The measures could be taken by the mobile operators and regulators, and individual subscribers who are often the victims.

Measures by Mobile Operators

Enhancing KYC for Staff and Subscribers

It is incumbent on mobile operators to ensure high ethical standards among their employees and ensure also, continuous monitoring of these employees to prevent their collusion with fraudsters
. Operators may adopt a culture of asset declaration so that wealth creation and acquisition of their staff can be monitored.

Improvement in Technological Systems

Mobile Operators must improve upon their technological systems to ensure greater transaction monitoring.

Anti-fraud electronic monitoring tools should be deployed to help check the pattern of transactions and fully investigate leads of suspicious activities.

Collaborating with key stakeholders

Mobile Operators should instill confidence into their subscribers by collaborating openly and honestly with relevant stakeholders such as law enforcement agencies, banks, and payment service providers to help combat the fraud.

Operators should balance the mandate to enforce subscriber privacy rules against the public interest not shield the identity of perpetrators of mobile money fraud.

Measures by Subscribers

Mobile Subscribers can also take some measures to help safeguard their funds and combat mobile money fraud such as follows:

Protection of Mobi
le Electronic Devices

Mobile subscribers must protect their mobile electronic devices such as cell phones and tablets from unauthorized access.

Where subscribers save their passwords and mobile money personal identity numbers (PIN) on their electronic devices, access to those devices by fraudsters may lead to the compromise of the security of those wallets.

It is also important to regularly update one’s mobile electronic devices with the latest security patches, operating system, and firmware updates.

Protection of Personal Identifiable Information

It is advisable not to share your personal identifiable information (PII) with persons one cannot trust.

Additionally, one should not share mobile money PIN with anyone under any circumstances.

It is also advisable to make PIN Codes harder for other people to guess. The use of predictable numbers such as dates of birth that can easily be guessed.

Verification of Callers and Texters

Mobile money subscribers must also make it a duty to verify the identity of
callers or texters by asking relevant questions and being sure that they are aware of the persons they are talking to, and should avoid giving out too much personal information.

Subscribers must be extremely careful with SMS messages since they can easily contain a phishing link.

Monitoring of Wallet Activities

Subscribers must also regularly review their account details. They must be sure to remember the last transaction on their wallets and develop a conscious attitude to always check their mobile money wallet anytime there is a perceived transaction on the wallet.

Awareness

Knowledge, it is said, is power. Everyone must strive to educate themselves by reading and asking relevant questions to gain knowledge about new fraud trends the best ways to avoid becoming a victim.

Finally, users should quickly contact their mobile operator if there is suspicion of fraudulent activity on a wallet. Every second may count in helping to stop a fraud.

Conclusion

As shown by Bank of Ghana’s reports, Mobile Money Fr
aud is very prevalent in Ghana and every effort must be made to arrest it, lest it derails the years of efforts made towards promoting financial inclusion, particularly within the informal sector.

Mobile money fraud does not only result in financial loss to subscribers or a mobile money provider, but it also damages the reputation of the service to the customer and leads to mistrust in the financial ecosystem.

Source: Ghana News Agency

AECI Mining Explosives, in the Prestea Huni-Valley Municipality, has awarded 27 employees for their long service to the company.

Employees who had served for 10 to 30 years received televisions, double door fridges, chest freezers, cash and certificates.

The event formed part of activities to mark AECI Mining Explosive’s 30th anniversary celebration themed ’30 Years of Providing a Reliable Explosive’s Energy Guided by Core Value Proposition’.

Speaking at the ceremony held in Tarkwa and Bogoso, Mr Johan Duvenhage, Managing Director of Anglophone, West Africa commended both present and former employees for working tirelessly to make the company one of the world’s leading suppliers of explosives and initiating systems.

‘We have the best and extraordinary employees with equally high aspirations and dreams. They have worked against all the odds that occurred in these 30 years to make what seemed impossible, possible’ he revealed.

Mr Duvenhage said, aside from creating quality income jobs in its host communit
ies and beyond, AECI had become a shining example, and was among the leading organizations in the country.

He said ‘trust was the bond that holds relationships together. For me, trust has two parts, one is the ability to believe in others and another is being trustworthy to others. For a successful business, it is important to take both sides together hand in hand.

‘I know today, we have the most reliable and dependable employees who are benevolent enough to put aside their self-interests to ensure that the company is victorious’.

According to Mr Duvenhage, the best way to make things happen was through the deep understanding of employee’s needs and aspirations that could be achieved by the perfect blend of demand winning performance and compassionate side for the employees’ health, wealth and wellbeing.

‘As a result of our 30 years of cooperation, we are proud to have earned the confidence and friendship of Ghanaians. There is a deep reserve of trust and respect that has developed as we navigate the diff
icult transitions Ghana went through. That trust and respect is precious to us’ added the managing director.

Mr Isaac Tandoh, Mining Manager of Gold Fields Ghana Limited (GFGL), Tarkwa Mine, explained that AECI Explosives had a unique corporate value that underpinned their service delivery, and their employees had always demonstrated this over the years.

He said ‘The success of this milestone to this end could possibly be achieved by remaining committed to the corporate values mnemonic BIGGER (Bold, Innovative, Going Green, Engaged and Responsible).

‘Over the past 25 years’ experience with this company, we at Gold Fields Ghana Limited have come to understand that BIGGER value is the magic that brings out their brand promise to life to we the customer’.

On technology, the mining manager indicated that AECI Mining Explosives could boast of the state-of-the-art explosive’s technology in the competition and that the company has to their credit the biggest research and development department situated at their
headquarters in Modderfontein in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Mr Tandoh noted that, ‘they give a listening ear to their customers and observe changing trends in the industry and tailor-make innovations to meet the customer’s specific needs satisfactorily, added that, AECI Mining Explosives have made mining business so easy owing to innovative methods they employ to their business’.

Mr Benjamin Kessie, Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal Chief Executive, congratulated the award winners for working hard to sustain the company to date, and urged stakeholders in the mining industry to invest in innovative and reliable energy that had the potential to significantly reduce environmental impacts such as noise, vibration, dust, fumes, and ground disturbance often characterized by blasting.

Mr Samuel Ofori, one of the award winners thanked the management of the company for providing a safe environment for them to work and gave the assurance that they would continue to give of their best to ensure AECI Mining Explosives achieved
their targeted goals.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accessory-Ville, a Ghana-based beaded accessories brand, in partnership with Future of Africa (FOA), has concluded the initial phase of a training programme designed to empower street youth through specialised skills-building sessions.

The training marks the onset of a series of transformative programmes aimed at providing employment opportunities for these young individuals upon completion.

A statement issued in Accra by Madam Edna Ansre, Founder and Creative Lead at Accessory-Ville, said the partnership with FOA, a not-for profit organisation ensuring the wellbeing of street residents, was to foster positive change and offer sustainable opportunities for the youth in Ghana.

Aligning with several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the United Nations, the initiative primarily focused on Goal Four: Quality Education, where they offered specialised training by equipping the youth with vital skills for employment and personal development.

It said under Goal Five: Gender Equality – the organisations
empowered the youth from underprivileged backgrounds and provided them with avenues for economic independence.

For Goal Eight: Decent Work and Economic Growth, they created employment opportunities through specialised skill-building initiatives.

The inaugural training, funded by Accessory-Ville, the mother company of The Accessory-Ville Academy, embodied the brand’s unwavering commitment to fostering craftsmanship in Ghanaian communities.

One of its core values was the preservation of local craftsmanship by creating premium beaded accessories.

‘This endeavour not only protects indigenous art but also fosters trans-generational skill-sharing and socio-economic development,’ it said.

‘At Accessory-Ville, we believe in more than just crafting accessories. We believe in preserving our rich African heritage and empowering our people. This training programme is a testament to our commitment to our communities and the craftsmanship that defines us.’

‘The collaboration with FOA, which initiated its work with ch
ildren in street situations in Accra in 2015, underscores a strategic partnership aimed at supporting homeless youth aged 13-15 years through a comprehensive five-year programme.’

Mr T.K. Mawuli Azaglo, the Founder of FOA, said the collaboration was to empower the underprivileged youth to be self-sufficient.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A retired professor of Botany at the University of Ghana, Prof Alfred Apau Oteng-Yeboah, has joined Civil Society Organisations in kicking against mining in forest reserves.

The Media Coalition Against Galamsey and OccupyGhana recently issued a joint statement demanding, among other things, a law prohibiting mining and related activities in forest reserves and significant biodiversity areas in the country.

The groups called for a revocation of the Environmental Protection (Mining in Forest Reserves) Regulations, 2022 (L.I. 2462), which ‘gives the President the power to give written approval to a mining company to undertake mining activity in a biodiversity area in the national interest’.

Prof Oteng-Yeboah, speaking at a public Lecture at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra, agreed that the legislation (L.I 2462) ‘is not in the public interest and should be repealed by Parliament’.

‘We should not be in a hurry to offer parcels of landscapes and/or waterscapes for projects that will comp
romise the ecosystem integrity of the country,’ he stated, among other recommendations which he believed would help perverse the integrity of Ghana’s rich vegetation and landscape.

He was addressing the topic: ‘Realising The Ecosystem Integrity of The Ghanaian Environment for National Development,’ which formed part of a series of lectures by GAAS to mark the 2023 Founder’s Week celebration.

Prof Oteng-Yeboah, also the Chair of the Trusteeship Board of A Rocha Ghana, an environmental advocacy group, expressed concern about human activities which endangered the environment and ‘our existence’.

‘We should all feel ashamed to allow our environment to get to this level of chaos…I want to suggest that our response to this shame should be one of regret, lament, repentance, reflection, and action,’ he said.

The GAAS Fellow noted that the country was in ‘an environmental crisis,’ affecting ‘development, cohesion, and livelihoods,’ hence the need for urgent steps in order not to undermine the progress made in nati
on-building.

Part of the ‘crisis management’ actions, he said, should include ‘a ban on future exploitation of wetlands and other wilderness areas until after evaluation and assessment of the extent of damage already done’.

He asked the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), and the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) to pursue their mandates on the environment while Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) enforced environmental by-laws.

Prof Oteng-Yeboah again indicated that ‘proposed petrochemical hub projects at Keta and Nzema should be suspended until impacts on the ecosystems have been studied and analysed and remedies for damages are cleared.’

‘The mining license to mine gold on the Amanzule [in the Western Region] should be stopped immediately because of its impact on the fragile aquatic wetland ecosystem and the livelihoods of the people,’ he added.

While urging traditional leaders to exert their authority of keeping the e
nvironment clean and secure, he also called for a ‘national consciousness and patriotism within state institutions and among staff responsible for managing our environmental resources.’

‘NDPC and Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) must team up to work with Minerals and Lands Commissions to provide knowledge about the effective and sustainable use of Ghanaian natural biological and genetic resources on one hand and non-renewable resources on the other,’ he said.

Source: Ghana News Agency