The Ghana Police Service is warning Ghanaians against the emergence of a mobile money fraud that is sweeping through the country.

In a press release, the police stated that fraudsters have resorted to sending text to phones of victims claiming they have won a lottery or their accounts have been credited with an amount of money.

The fraudster, the police said, will proceed to call the mobile money user claiming that he/she works for the telecommunication company and they have noticed an attempt to defraud said user.

“Based on this, the targeted victim is advised to proceed to a nearby mobile money vendor to get the scam attempts blocked. At the mobile money vendor, the fraudster requests to speak with the operator directly on the victim’s phone.”

“On the blindside of the victim, the fraudster authorises a cash transfer from vendors to account to his, which the victim is expected to make payments. After the payment, the mobile money vendor asks the victim for the payment only to realise they have both been defrauded.”

The Service stated that although other ways have been used to defraud mobile money users, the police have more reported cases of this new mode of operation.

They urged vendors to ensure they take money before initiating any money transfer and also cautioned victims against sharing their pin codes.

They also advised Ghanaians to take note that authentic mobile money messages follow existing trends in the SMS inbox, adding “the message is not sent through personal SMS telephone.”