Fighting Digital Fraud: All Mobile and other Digital Devices will be Properly Registered – Minister

Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Samuel Nartey George has stated that in addition to doing a proper SIM re-registration, government will also ensure that all mobile and other digital devices are properly registered to make the fight against digital fraud more effective.

He had earlier told Parliament during his vetting that the SIM re-registration done under the previous government in 2021-2022, lacked common sense and logic because, not only did it waste the time of Ghanaians, but even after that tedious process, telcos are still unable to trace criminals who use SIM cards to commit digital crimes, particularly mobile money fraud.

Indeed, in spite of the SIM re-registration done under the previous government, mobile money fraud has continued unabated, with the Bank of Ghana recording very worrying fraud figures in that space after SIM re-registration, with almost zero arrests.

Speaking on Newsfile on Joy News, Sam George said, under the new SIM re-registration process, technology will be applied to link the data sitting with the telcos to the National Identity Authority (NIA) database, without anyone having to go and queue and provide their biometrics all over again, like the previous government did.

He said, out of the over 38 million active SIM cards in Ghana today, it is expected that only about two million will have issues and the holders of those SIM would be notified by the respective telcos via SMS to go regularize their details, adding that those SIMs are most likely pre-registered SIMs being used by fraudsters who might not come forward so those SIMs will be deactivated.

Device Register

But the minister noted that to make the fight against mobile money and digital fraud effective, it is important to go beyond just proper SIM registration and also register the devices in which those SIM cards are fitted.

“Every mobile device used in the world has an IMEI number, which is the unique identification number for that device. So what we will do is to link every SIM to the device by having a national register of all the devices and their respective IMEI numbers.

“So if someone commits a crime with a particular SIM card, we will not only trace the SIM card but also the device through the IMEI number, and where we have to block, we will block both the SIM and the device so the fraudster will not be able to insert a new SIM into that same device and use it for another crime,” he said.

According to him, this will make it more expensive for fraudsters to engage in mobile money fraud because they know they risk not just the SIM being blocked but also the device they used.

Sam George said the device registration through the use of the IMEI numbers will also help industry players and government to identify the authenticity of every mobile device being used in the country, whether they are genuine or fake, because two devices cannot have the same IMEI number.

The other advantage in having a national device register is for easy tracing of stolen mobile devices. Thieves would know that if they steal a mobile device, the whereabouts of the device can easily be traced even if the device is switched off, so people will be weary of stealing mobile devices.

Such a register will also be linked to a global register so that even when people steal mobile devices from abroad and ship them to Ghana, or from Ghana to anywhere in the world, the device can still be traced easily using the device register.

Sam George is confident that with the proper SIM re-registration and device registration, the fight against mobile money fraud will be won to a very large extent, if not completely eliminated.

Meanwhile, Techfocus24 has gathered that the processes have already been set in motion to ensure that the national devices register becomes a reality as soon as possible.

Source:  Samuel Dowuona || Techfocus24