MMFL CEO urges for stronger fraud protection as social engineering threatens Ghana’s digital finance ecosystem

By:  Nana Appiah Acquaye

A fake pizza order may seem like an ordinary online transaction, but for Mobile Money Fintech Limited Chief Executive Officer Haruna Shaibu, it illustrates how fraudsters exploit human trust to compromise digital accounts, underscoring the need for stronger fraud protection and greater collaboration across Ghana’s financial technology ecosystem.

Shaibu recounted an attempted online scam in which a fraudulent pizza order was used to obtain personal information and attempt to take over his WhatsApp account. The incident, he said, demonstrated how social engineering attacks can exploit unsuspecting users and vulnerabilities across interconnected digital platforms, even when financial accounts have additional security safeguards.

Speaking at the Fintech Media Development Series in Accra, held under the theme “Understanding Fintech, Building Trust, Telling the Real Story,” Shaibu called for greater financial inclusion, stronger cybersecurity and deeper collaboration among financial service providers, telecommunications companies and other digital platforms to protect consumers.

“The responsibility on all of us is to keep educating our customers and also build the necessary tools that will help us address some of these things in our ecosystem,” he said.

Social engineering involves manipulating people into revealing sensitive information or taking actions that compromise their security. In the pizza-order scenario described by Shaibu, the apparent legitimacy of an everyday online interaction illustrates how fraudsters can use familiar situations to establish trust and attempt to gain access to personal accounts.

Although device binding on his mobile money account provided an additional safeguard, Shaibu said the experience highlighted the need to look beyond individual platforms when addressing fraud.

As more financial and social interactions move online, criminals can exploit connections between messaging services, mobile money accounts and other digital channels. This makes consumer awareness, effective security controls and coordinated responses increasingly important to maintaining confidence in digital financial services.

Shaibu said artificial intelligence could help detect and manage fraudulent activity in real time, provided organisations collaborate and share relevant information to address threats that increasingly move across systems.

He identified fraud prevention as one of several priorities shaping the future of fintech, alongside open finance, embedded financial services, digital assets and cross-border interoperability.

“Our mission remains very, very simple, but very entrenched in the Ghanaian financial ecosystem,” he said, adding that the industry must focus not only on business growth but also on improving financial health, protecting customers and expanding opportunities for small businesses.