According to her, most of the fraud cases currently recorded in the country are driven by social engineering schemes where fraudsters impersonate trusted individuals or institutions to trick users into disclosing sensitive information such as personal identification numbers used for mobile financial transactions.

She explained in a Citi Business News interview that protecting such confidential details remains the most effective safeguard against fraudulent activities, emphasizing that SIM registration cannot fully prevent such incidents.

Her comments come amid government plans to undertake 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 sacred. So to the extent that you protect your PIN, there shouldn’t be room for someone to defraud you,” she said.

She also highlighted the importance of consumer education, urging subscribers to avoid purchasing pre-registered SIM cards and to ensure that any SIM card they use is properly registered in their name.

According to her, linking SIM cards biometrically to the national identification database helps ensure that individuals can be traced if a number is used for criminal activities, thereby strengthening accountability within the telecommunications ecosystem.

“What the SIM registration will do, however, is to ensure that for every subscriber, your number is biometrically linked to the national ID database, which means that if you are not the user, if I acquire a SIM card, which was acquired by someone else, and I use it, I purchase that SIM and I do not register it directly, any crime that is committed with that particular number will be linked back to me as a user.

“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.

The exercise has been characterised by long queues and other challenges at the various registration centres.

Speaking in an interview with Emefa Apawu on NewsNight on Thursday, Mr Ashigbey indicated that his outfit has noted the difficulties which have plagued the nationwide exercise.

“Even today around 3 o’clock, there was a meeting between the NCA and the operators; all looking at the challenges that are coming up and figuring out ways in which we’ll be able to better improve the system that we currently have,” Mr Ashigbey intimated.

According to him, based on an assessment of the events at the various centres and the feedback from the grounds, measures will be put in place to overcome the hurdles.

“At the end of the day, the assessment is based on what we’re seeing. So once you see these long queues at the various centres, some of which have even resulted in some of our members having to close some of their centres; it has resulted in some COVID-19 cases in some centres and all of that, that definitely is worrying.

“The good thing about it is that it has been a system that we’ve constantly been monitoring and doing a lot of improvement,” he said.

Earlier today, JoyNews paid a visit to some SIM card re-registration centres to ascertain the progress of the exercise. After hours of monitoring, it was observed that the exercise had been marred by long queues, leaving many participants frustrated. Some also expressed their anger at the slow pace of the exercise.

Others, according to the JoyNews team were willing to abandon the entire process due to its cumbersome and stressful nature. For them, a more convenient system should have been put in place to eliminate the hurdles surrounding the current manual approach.

Reacting to these concerns, Mr Ashigbey mentioned that as technicians and stakeholders, they are considering smoother means to ease the growing inconveniences.

“The self-service that we’re doing at the first stage, we should be able to design a system again that enables some people to do some self-service, even with the biometric capture.

Because, if you have a system in which I can put my finger on a particular device and then be able to link that device to the NIA database, such that if there’s a match, then that feedback comes, that will be something that would help.

“It will then eliminate you and I who can do it ourselves and then we can reduce the numbers. So I’m hoping that as we continue to engage, we should be able to design a system that enables that to happen.

“If that happens, it will definitely cut the number of people and improve the user experience that currently characterises what it is that we’re dealing with at this stage”, Mr Ashigbey stated.

As part of measures to curb cyber security and create a functional national database for citizens, the National Communication Authority, in collaboration with the National Identification Authority (NIA) is embarking on a nationwide SIM reregistration for all mobile phone users.

The exercise, which began on October 1, 2021, has entered a second stage in January 2022, which requires owners of mobile phones to move to designated locations to register their SIM cards with their service providers.

According to the NCA, persons who fail to satisfy the stated requirements will have their SIM cards blocked at the end of the nationwide exercise in March 2022.

The development was announced by the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications (GTC) amid the introduction of the electronic transaction tax (e-levy).

According to GTC, the decision follows extensive engagements with stakeholders on the matter on the need to lessen the impact of the new tax on consumers.

The operators are Airtel Mobile Commerce Ltd (AirtelTigo Money), Mobile Money Limited (MTN MoMo) and Vodafone Ghana Mobile Financial Services Limited (Vodafone Cash) which currently has no charges.

“We acknowledge the need to expand the tax base. However, to reduce the overall impact of the new levy on consumers, MTN and AirtelTigo have agreed to a downward revision of their P2P (person to person transfer) fees by up to 25% depending on the respective operator. Vodafone currently has no charges,” GTC explained in a statement.

The statement added that each mobile money operator would notify their customers of the applicable revised rate when the e-levy bill is passed into law.

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The proposed e-levy, which is expected to come into effect in 2022, is a charge of 1.75% of the value of electronic transactions.

It includes mobile money payments, bank transfers, merchant payments, and inward remittances.

The originator of the transactions will bear the charge except for inward remittances, which will be borne by the recipient.

Read the full statement below:

According to the Chamber, such assertions by the ministry has serious reputational issues and are dire to the growth of the industry.

The Minister for Communications, Ursula Owusu on Friday, August 7, appeared before Parliament to account for how much revenue the country had made since contracting Kelni GVG to create the Common Platform as well as clear some controversies surrounding the contract.

While addressing the House, the minister noted that the implementation of the Common Platform had saved the country some GHS 470 million in under-declared taxes from 2015 to the first quarter of 2017.

“The introduction of the CP has uncovered that, prior to the introduction of the CP, GHS 470 million in taxes was lost from potential under declarations between 2015 to the first quarter of 2017. An estimated amount of GHS 300 million in taxes was saved between Q1 of 2017 to
date as a result of the announcement of the implementation of the CP on March 8th, 2017 and its actual implementation date,” she stated.

Reacting to the Minister’s claim, the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications note that a similar assertion was made by the Ministry on November 19, 2019 for which a report on the alleged tax misconducts by its members (AirtelTigo, MTN and Vodafone) was requested from the Ministry for the Chamber’s perusal, but the request till date has not been met.

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Adding that, nine months after the allegation by the ministry, the issue has not come up for discussion in engagements between itself, the ministry and regulators.

The Chamber in a press release argue that its members are good corporate citizens and have showcased exemplary record of tax compliance as well as delivering on all their tax obligations.

The Chamber, after the assertion made by the minister, is seeking for an audience with Parliament through the Select Committee on Communications to engage them and adequately address the allegations by the Communications Ministry.

Read details of press release: