MTN mobile money agents caught in fraudulent activities will have their contracts terminated.

Mobile money fraud is an intentional act perpetuated by scammers or fraudsters to gain undue advantage over the mobile money subscribers, mobile money operators and mobile money agents.

And Mobile Money fraud on the MTN Ghana network has become so rampant it can be likened to a virus sweeping through a community.

According to General Manager for Mobile Money Limited, Eli Hini, fraudulent MoMo transactions affect sustainability of businesses.

He expressed this concern at the MTN Mobile Money awards ceremony held over the weekend to celebrate hardworking agents across the South-Eastern part of the country.

Going forward, he said MTN Ghana will intensify education, technology and partner with the police to eliminate such acts.

“We have continued our education around fraud. It’s very important for us. If there’s anything that gives me sleepless nights, it is that.

"And we’ve, over the period, invested heavily in education, technology solutions and also ensuring that we deal with these fraudsters in a very quick manner, and this we have been able to achieve through collaborations with the Ghana Police who have assisted us in doing arrests across the country", he said.

However, he urged customers to take responsibility to prevent granting fraudsters the opportunity to access to their monies.

“What we want our customers to also do is to take responsibility because it cannot be a one way thing. I always say that if you have a very good security system, there’s always an access point and if that access point is weak, that is where the fraudsters will come through.”

National Deputy Public Relations Officer for Mobile Money Agents Association, Joshua Edmundson, called on mobile money agents across the country to join the association to enable it to protect their interests especially against fraud and robbers.

“I would like to encourage all mobile money agents across Ghana to make sure that they go on our website to register with us because the truth is you hear so many insecurities in the system.

"People are frauded, robbers are always on us because now the banking system is gradually changing and with e-commerce, mobile money agents are the facilitators. So, we’re encouraging them to join the association so that we’ll be able to protect their interests,” he said.

Meanwhile, he commended MTN for making agents a priority by providing a life insurance.

Kelvin Atsu Wilson, 2020 overall best MTN MoMo agent for the South-Eastern part of the country, speaking to Joy Business on the sidelines after the award ceremony called on MTN to educate agents on the importance of life insurance.

“Life insurance is very good but what I think they should do now is to educate the agents to understand what life insurance is,” he stated.

Taking away a four wheel drive, cash prize and souvenirs, Kelvin expressed joy and stated that this is a form of motivation to work harder.

“I’m so overwhelmed. I’m happy. We’ve been doing this mobile money for close to ten years now. We’ve been working hard and we knew that one day this would come,” he exclaimed.