NPP manifesto launch: Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s claim on mobile money fraud misleading

On August 18, 2024, the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) launched its manifesto ahead of the upcoming general elections, highlighting its achievements and reaffirming its commitment to fulfilling its promises.

During the manifesto launch in the Western Region, the Minister of Works and Housing, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, touted the government’s efforts to curb mobile money fraud through its digitisation policies.

Claim: “By linking the Ghana Card to SIM registration, identity fraud and mobile money fraud have been reduced.”

Fact-Check Ghana has verified the claim and presents the facts below.

Explanation: On October 1, 2021, Ghana initiated the process of linking Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to the Ghana Identification Card (Ghana Card).

The Minister for Communication and Digitization, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, believed the initiative was a means to develop a SIM database with integrity. She claimed the SIM database would significantly reduce fraudulent activities and secure SIM card-based transactions.

A year into the implementation, on October 17, 2022, the Communication and Digitization Ministry announced that over 28.9 million people had successfully linked their SIM cards with their Ghana Cards.

However, according to the latest report from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) on Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (SDIs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs), mobile money fraud remains a significant challenge.

The report revealed that in 2022, the PSP sector recorded 12,166 mobile money fraud incidents, a slight decrease from the 12,350 incidents recorded in 2021, representing a 1.5% reduction.

Despite this marginal decrease in incidents, the total value of reported fraud for 2022 was GH¢27 million, a substantial increase from the GH¢14.2 million reported in 2021. This represents a 90.14% increase in the total loss value.

Additionally, the total E-money-related losses recorded by PSPs in 2022 amounted to approximately GH¢26 million, more than doubling from the GH¢12.8 million recorded in 2021—a 103% increase.

In its Quarterly Fraud Report for 2022, the BoG identified identity theft as one of the most prevalent forms of fraud in the Ghanaian market in recent times and cautioned the public to be vigilant.

While the linking of the Ghana Card to SIM registration may have contributed to a slight reduction in the number of mobile money fraud incidents, the overall financial losses associated with such fraud have significantly increased.

Therefore, while Fact-Check Ghana did not find any data to back Kojo Oppong Nkrumah’s claim that identity fraud has reduced, his claim that mobile money fraud has been reduced as a result of linking SIM cards to the Ghana Card is misleading.