Sylvia Owusu-Ankomah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, has stated that SIM registration alone will not eliminate fraud in the country. She emphasised the importance of consumer awareness and the protection of personal identification numbers to effectively address the increasing issue of mobile-related scams. According to Owusu-Ankomah, many of the fraud cases currently being reported are driven by social engineering schemes, where fraudsters impersonate trusted individuals or institutions in order to trick users into revealing sensitive information, such as personal identification numbers used for mobile financial transactions.
In an interview with Citi Business News, she explained that safeguarding such confidential details is the most effective way to protect against fraudulent activities, reiterating that SIM registration cannot completely prevent these incidents. Her remarks come amid government plans to initiate another nationwide SIM registration exercise following Cabinet approval. The exercise, which will be Ghana’s third major subscriber registration effort, is expected to introduce revisions to the existing regulatory framework governing SIM card registration in the country.
“SIM registration is not going to be a silver bullet that stops fraud. The nature of fraud that we are currently experiencing as a country is mostly on a social engineering scheme. When I say social engineering, these are legitimate individuals who would call you and pretend to be somebody else and, you know, seek information from you and fraudulently, you know, lead you into releasing your personal identity, your personal identity number.
“Your PIN is highly sensitive, and safeguarding it is the best way to prevent fraud,” she cautioned. She underscored the importance of consumer awareness, advising subscribers not to purchase pre-registered SIM cards and to ensure that any SIM they use is properly registered in their own name.
She explained that linking SIM cards biometrically to the national identification database enhances accountability, as it allows individuals to be traced if a number is used for criminal activity. “The SIM registration process ensures that every subscriber’s number is tied to the national ID database. This means that if someone acquires a SIM card registered under another person’s details and uses it without proper registration, any crime committed with that number will ultimately be traced back to the user,” she said.
“So I do think that there is the need for a lot of consumer education around protecting our SIM, around ensuring that the numbers that we register are authentically ours and that you do not go and purchase a SIM card that has been pre-registered, because it means that if any fraudulent activities undertaken with that number, you will be tracked and you will have to bear the consequences of it,” she added.
Meanwhile, some mobile phone users are urging the government to ensure that the planned SIM card re-registration exercise helps address the persistent problem of mobile money fraud in Ghana. They say that although the previous nationwide SIM registration drive was intended to curb fraudulent activities on telecom networks, cases of mobile money scams and related cybercrime are still being reported, leading to financial losses for many users. “The advantage of reregistration is to tighten our security system. If only it will prevent this mobile money scamming and fraud we hear on social media, why not?” Diana Opoku, a trader remarked in a Citi Business News interview.
Source: Daniel Sackitey
