Mobile Money agents elated over sim card re-registration exercise

A few days ago, the Minister of Communication, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, announced that the re-registration and registration of sim cards will commence on Friday, 1st October 2021.

The exercise which is expected to last for six months will end on 31st March 2022.

According to the minister in a Facebook Post, the SIM which is not registered at the end of the exercise will be blocked.

Speaking with Ekourba Gyasi Simpremu on Atinka TV’s morning show, Ghana Nie, the Deputy National PRO, Mobile Money Agents Association of Ghana, Joshua Edmonson said they were excited over the exercise because it will help reduce fraudulent activities.

Mr. Edmonson explained that over the years, the mobile money business has been confronted with a lot of fraudulent activities.

Despite having an internal control system to detect who withdraws money, he said the telcos could also not tell who was involved in the fraudulent activity.

This made the Association suggest to the telcos, especially MTN, which is the biggest telcos in Ghana to find ways to bring sanity into their operations and make it safe for people to do business with them.

Proposal by Agents

The Association, he said proposed to the telcos to introduce ID for withdrawal which MTN enrolled.

After its enrollment, Mr. Edmonson testified that the fraudulent activities have reduced, despite having some incidences.

However, he said the fraudsters were shifting to other networks after MTN introduced the ID for withdrawal.

Meanwhile, he said since not all Ghanaians have their ID Cards, the fraudsters found a way to steal monies.

Mr. Edmonson said the fraudsters were highly educated in IT while some could be ex-workers of the Telcos, adding that some had much knowledge in the IT system.

He also noted that most people registered the ID cards without their true details, adding that some have their mother’s, or sisters’ names on their cards when details are checked.

But for the new initiative, he said the Ghana Card is going to be linked with the sim card, saying it will make it difficult for the fraudsters to operate with that.

“When you link your sim card to the card Ghana, there will be no escape route because the Ghana card has details like GPS aside your identity and so we are of the belief that even if we cannot get 100 percent, we can get 70 percent protection. If someone succeeds in defrauding someone and attempts to withdraw the money, the ID Card will expose the person,” he said.

To have one’s sim card re-registered, you can dial *404# to start the registration process.