MOBILE money fraud has become the biggest crime in Zimbabwe, according to our cyber research. It has become an integral part of life in Zimbabwe.
The convenience and ease of use that it offers have fundamentally changed how we manage our finances. The mobile money industry is rapidly growing with over 1,35 billion registered accounts worldwide, which handle US$$1 trillion transactions annually, according to the GSMA’s State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2022.
However, this positive momentum is now threatened by fraud. Cyber criminals are constantly finding new ways of exploiting vulnerabilities in mobile money systems, resulting in significant financial losses for businesses and clients.
There is an urgent need to use artificial intelligence (AI) biometric authentication as a way of identifying individuals.
AI biometric authentication is a method of verifying your identity using your unique physical or behavioural characteristics, such as fingerprint, face, voice, or iris. It can offer more security and convenience than traditional passwords, which can be easily forgotten, stolen, or hacked.
Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing crimes in Zimbabwe. The identities of thousands of individuals have been compromised in recent years.
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The criminals use identity theft to scam individuals. Identity theft is a type of fraud that involves using someone else’s identity to steal money or gain other benefits.
A scammer just needs your name and national identity number to steal. This leads to an innocent person ending up being arrested.
How this is done is easy.
The criminal reproduces a plastic national identity (ID), after getting information that a “target” has a lump sum in their mobile money account or is receiving some cash.
At, say, 4.55pm just before the mobile money shop closes, the criminal enters the shop, advises the customer assistant that he/she has lost her phone or it is stolen and requests for a subscriber identity module (SIM) card replacement. The scammer would have gone to the police to report that their wallet and cell phone have been stolen to obtain a form indicating their lost items.
Once one is issued with a replacement SIM card, the actual SIM card owner is immediately blocked and the criminal will now have full access to their mobile money account. As the owner, you cease to have access to the mobile phone company because it will be closed for business.
The only time that one will get access to a mobile money service provider is after 8 am the next day. By then, the mobile money wallet would have been wiped out.
However, it must be highlighted that when shops are closed, the customer can still reach out to mobile money service providers through Twitter, Facebook, e-mails, live chat, WhatsApp, and toll free lines, which will still be operational.
There is a need for mobile money companies to adopt the AI biometric facial recognition system and have a central database of all mobile money registered clients, which is directly linked to the registrar-general’s database.
AI biometric face recognition technology is used worldwide for fighting crime, preventing fraud, securing public safety, and improving customer experience across a vast range of locations and industries.
This is now the best technology that can be used to prevent mobile money fraud, especially in Zimbabwe where 96% of all transactions are processed electronically.
Biometrics makes use of unique physical features and behaviours to serve as digital identifiers that computers and software can interpret and utilise for identity-related applications. They can be used to identify someone in a biometric database or to verify the authenticity of an identity.
The consequences of these fraud and scam techniques have a significant impact on the entire mobile money ecosystem. They affect the client directly and harm the mobile operator’s image and lead to reduced mobile money usage.
- Mutisi is the CEO of Hansole Investments (Pvt) Ltd and the current chairperson of Zimbabwe Information & Communication Technology, a division of Zimbabwe Institution for Engineers.