A young woman in Koforidua in the Eastern Region escaped being lynched by a mob after she was deceived by a fraudster to send GHC2,000 for it to be doubled for her.
The semi-literate lady who had already sent GHC1,000 in her mobile money wallet to the fraudster, went to a mobile money vendor near the washing bay opposite the office of Electricity Company of Ghana, ECG, adjacent to the Eastern Regional Hospital to send the additional Ghc1000 to the unsuspecting fraudster without holding physical cash in anticipation that the money will be doubled immediately into his account to pay the vendor.
The money was not doubled as the fraudster switched off his phone. The victim did not also have physical cash to pay the mobile money vendor raising suspicion that the victim might have colluded to defraud her.
The mobile money vendor raised an alarm which attracted many people to the scene. Some of the young men begun to manhandled the victim and attempted to lynch her but for the intervention of a man who said he has been the victim of the same modus Operandi of the fraudsters.
A check from MTN indicated that the monies sent have been withdrawn from the mobile money account of the fraudster.
The Brother of the victim was called on the phone to the scene to testify that the victim was not a criminal that she has been fooled to send the monies. He assured me of paying the money.
Nonetheless, the mobile money vendor together with members of the mob took the victim to the Police station for a former complaint.
Mobile money fraud is on the rise in Ghana forcing telecommunication giant -MTN Ghana to revise its security regimes many times. The recent is the identification system which demands that customers submit valid ID cards before allowed to cash out.
