In this article, we will take a closer look at two common fraud techniques used by cybercriminals and the financial impact on mobile money businesses.
The growing mobile money industry
Mobile money has become an integral part of daily life in many parts of the world. The convenience and ease of use offered by mobile money systems have fundamentally changed how people manage their finances, pay bills and even receive income. The industry is a rapidly growing with over 1.35 billion registered accounts processing $1 trillion in 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. Cybercriminals are constantly finding new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in mobile money systems, resulting in significant financial losses for businesses and a loss of user trust. Evina research shows that 73% of defrauded mobile money users reduce their usage and 21% churn after being defrauded.
In this article, we will take a closer look at two common fraud techniques used by cybercriminals and the financial impact on mobile money businesses.
The common fraud techniques on mobile money and their financial impact
Commission fraud is a common tactic used by dishonest agents to inflate the commissions paid to them by mobile operators. This is achieved by manipulating the system and creating fake transactions.
The cost of commission fraud to a mobile money provider can be up to 4% of its annual revenue.
Phishing is another common technique used by cybercriminals to steal sensitive information and generate unwanted mobile money transactions. This is done by tricking a user into revealing sensitive information through convincing phone calls or messages.
The cost of phishing to a mobile operator can be up to 3.8% of its annual revenue.
MobileMoneyProtect: The solution against mobile money fraud
The consequences of these fraud techniques have a significant impact on the entire mobile money ecosystem. Not only do they affect the user directly, but they also harm the mobile operator’s brand image and lead to reduced mobile money usage. Evina has developed a sophisticated mobile money solution to combat even the most complex fraud patterns:
Mobile Money Protect. The mobile money solution enables mobile operators and mobile money services to stop cybercriminals from stealing from, protect their users and grow their mobile money businesses.
Source: The Fraud Observer
