MTN Ghana, on Thursday, sensitized residents of Old Fadama and Agbogbloshie environs on the need to keep their Mobile Money (MoMo) wallet pins safe from a second party to avoid the possibility of being defrauded.

“If you protect your pin, your wallet is safe. We need you to play your part to secure your wallet,” Mr Eli Hini, the General Manager of Mobile Financial Services, MTN stated at a sensitization campaign, dubbed: “U4Know” aimed at reaching every user of the MoMo service through community outreach programmes, religious institutions, media platforms and individuals.

Subscribers were advised not to entertain calls with the exception of one from “0244300000” which was genuinely from MTN Customer Care Centre, nor discuss their MoMo wallet with anyone.

Members of the community were also enlightened with a drama that showcased various ways in which people defrauds MoMo subscribers such as creating fake stories that they mistakenly sent MoMo to another’s phone and therefore appealed for it to be resent.

Mr Eli Hini, the General Manager of Mobile Financial Services, MTN, said although the company had embarked on awareness creation campaigns with regard to MoMo fraud, some people kept falling victims to the fraudsters.

“The fraudsters call you because they don’t have access to your pin, so if you don’t corporate, they cannot defraud you. If the call doesn’t come from 0244300000, then, it is not coming from MTN office,” he said.

He expressed MTN’s preparedness to enhance the MoMo platform with the state of the art certification to ensure safety of their customers.

Mr Hini noted that MoMo, which had been instrumental in enabling subscribers to sign up for insurance policies, pension products, payment of bills, and earning of interest through savings, had unfortunately become a platform used by people to defraud others.

He, therefore, said the sensitization campaign would be made comprehensive until the more than nine million MoMo subscribers and 150,000 agents on the network had been reached.

Protection of one's MoMo wallet pin, he said, was crucial, and advised that people should not disclose their pins to others just to make a transaction for them.

Mr Stephen Sabbah, the Secretary of the Ewe Traditional leaders in Agbogbloshie, reiterated the need to take precaution, saying, “Our old women and men, please desist from writing your MoMo pins on your walls and open places for you to access it whenever you need it, because that could be dangerous”.

He also advised the youth to desist from taking advantage of older persons and Persons with Disabilities who could not make a transaction on their own to wrongly take funds from their accounts.

Deputy Superintendent of Police Alexander Tieku, the District Police Commander, Jamestown also encouraged MoMo agents to do due diligence by consulting MTN office for confirmation, anytime they suspected a fraudulent transaction by customers.

He explained that it was a criminal offence for people to defraud others under false pretense, saying, offenders when caught, would be made to face the full rigours of the law.