Development of a Fraud Alert System for Mobile Money Subscribers in Ghana

Abstract

Mobile Money is a digital payment platform that allows for money transfers between mobile phone devices. Mobile money fraud has been rampant in recent years. Although the platform is secure, fraudsters can still find weaknesses in the gateway to defraud other mobile money subscribers. Currently, only the subscriber identification module (SIM) number or international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) that is used to commit fraud is blocked, which gives the fraudster the privilege to register and use a different SIM number. A mechanism is needed to block fraudsters permanently. In this study, we developed a system to alert mobile money users of fraudsters by screening incoming calls. We created a platform to help automate the registration of mobile money users using optical character recognition to obtain relevant information from an image of the user’s ID card and a secure mobile application platform for mobile money transactions. Based on the information obtained, a mobile application was developed. Users were able to report a number that had attempted or succeeded in defrauding them. The mobile application has a broadcast receiver that listens to incoming calls or messages. The ID of the number making the incoming call is cross-checked with the caller ID stored in the telecommunication companies' database. When a fraudster is detected, subscribers will be alerted to allow the application to block that caller permanently. The system was tested to ensure its validity and performance. This system will help to reduce drastically the amount of money that mobile money subscribers lose.