MTN Ghana, in collaboration with Ghana Police Service and e-Crime Bureau, has held a day’s workshop for 40 police personnel of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the southern sector on Mobile Money Fraud.

The workshop, which took place at the Police General Headquarters Conference Room in Accra last week, was attended by senior police officers, including COP Nathan Kofi Boakye, Director General, Research and Planning, ACP Maame Tiwaa Addo Dankwa, Deputy Director General CID.

Addressing participants at the opening ceremony, MTN General Manager, Financial Services, Eli Hini averred that his outfit was happy to partner the Police to fight the menace of mobile money fraud in the country.

Mr. Hini mentioned that his outfit in 2016 recorded an average of 28 cases of mobile money fraud while 43 cases in the first quarter of 2017 had been recorded.

He further revealed that most of the reports on mobile money fraud could be categorized into advanced fee scam and overcharging by merchants and cash out theft, which has nothing to do with MTN systems.

“As it’s always the case, every good thing creates an opportunity for social deviants to take advantage and cheat unsuspecting persons, and it is for these unforeseen circumstances that MTN has embarked on a journey to ensure that its systems are robust enough to provide secured services,” he added.

The General Manager disclosed that MTN was granted ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification after an assessment conducted by Lloyds Register Quality Assurance (LROA) to enhance mobile money service to meet international standards.

Director General of CID, DCOP Bright Oduro described the stakeholder collaboration with MTN and e-Crime Bureau as timely and relevant to help stop criminals from swindling unsuspecting victims.

The senior police officer disclosed that the Police are usually the first to receive complaints involving fraudulent mobile money transactions.

Crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated, organized and networked, and it calls for holistic collaboration with all key stakeholders, DCOP Oduro said.