The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) has warned Rwandan residents of rising threats from fraudulent schemes developed against mobile money users and mobile banking platforms.
RIB says it has received around 80 cases of people whose money has been stolen from mobile phones in the last two months.
Up to Rwf12 million was stolen in those fraud schemes.
In connection with committing these crimes, at least 46 people have been arrested and brought to prosecution that the law can take its course, RIB has said.
Thanks to measures put in place by the National Bank of Rwanda and telecommunications companies to eliminate charges on sending money through mobile money platforms, the volumes of mobile money transactions are said to have increased during the last months.
These measures were intended to encourage cashless transactions and prevent Covid-19 from potentially spreading through the exchange of banknotes and coins.
Nevertheless, several cases of money theft by the use of technology were reported during this time.
According to RIB, the victims of these scams were those who did not hide their hidden pin numbers and this made them vulnerable to theft.
Here, RIB asked users of mobile money to take appropriate steps to secure their pin numbers / codes.
“We ask people living in Rwanda to protect their secret pins, avoid messages from strangers concerning money transactions, and also be cautious of people that call and impersonate as telecom company employees,” said Marie-Michelle Umuhoza, the Spokesperson of RIB.
Umohoza says there is a campaign where RIB is raising people’s awareness about the theft schemes in order to deal with such crimes in the country.
According to RIB information, RIB has partnered with MTN Rwanda to arrest people suspected of theft over the past two months.
When someone complains that their money has been stolen, RIB takes the step to ask the telecommunications company to block the money on the account it was transferred into. And then further enquiries are conducted to catch the perpetrators in the scheme.
RIB advises Rwandan citizens to provide information about such unhealthy schemes so that the criminals are arrested and the law follows suit.