Women in the informal sector in the Ada East and Ada West District in the Greater Accra Region have been given capacity-building training against all forms of cybercrimes and fraud-related activities.

Radio Ada, a community radio station based in the Ada East District and Penplusbyte, organized the one-day training program on 18 October 2023 to equip the women with information on fraudulent activities and measures to evade individual perpetrators and their tricks.

The Executive Director of Foundation for Security and Development Africa (FOSDA) and resource person at the event, Miss Theodora William Anti mentioned that the world keeps moving so fraud perpetrators have also doubled their skills through the internet and other social media outlets hence women must be conscious of information on the internet and other social media outlets.

“Fraudsters rely on the weakness of social media users, so everyone must keep their personal information or details secret. Desist from responding to mobile network promotion messages you don’t personally take part in. Fraudsters create accounts using the names of prominent such as MPs to dupe innocent people for money so verify such information so that you don’t fall prey to these fraudsters”, she admonished.

Miss Theodora William Anti emphasized that some content on social about the information on wars in other countries have the potency to abuse the behavior of children that is a threat to Ghana’s security and hence entreated the women to ensure their wards do not get addicted to the social media.

She concluded that women can exploit the internet and social media to revamp their business. “In our capacity as businesswomen in the informal sector, we can market our business on social media to attract more customers”, she encouraged.

Head of programs at Radio Ada, Mr. Gedion Amarnor Dzeagu explained that 70% of women in Ghana contribute to the economic growth of the country hence knowledge of fraudsters’ use of technology to devastate people’s business through the internet is crucial.

He continued that the constitution details information accessible to everyone which is the focus of the capacity-building training adding that women (in the informal sector) are the most vulnerable group to these hackers with a devastating impact on them than any other groups in society which necessitates a solution through the media as educators.

“Penplubyte targets women because the information available to women gets to the children, men, and others in the home. We also engaged them in local languages to ensure adequate understanding of the content of our training,” he explained.

The participants were trained in how to evade mobile money fraud, use the internet to advertise their business, and detect genuine and fake information on the internet.

The participants include market women, traders, fishmongers, farmers, and shop operators.