By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
Mobile money fraud, a growing concern in Ghana has been linked to SIM swapping which according to the Economic Organized Crime Office, EOCO is used by fraudsters, where they forge Ghana cards to obtain duplicate SIMs and hijack mobile money accounts.
The Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Samuel Nartey George has therefore directed that SIM cards henceforth would be registered alongside mobile phones through the Central Equipment Identity Register, CEIR.
“People are using SIM cards these days for things that are illegal so we are going to be registering the SIM cards with the phones as well because we need to deal with mobile money fraud“, he said.
In an interview on TV3 on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, the Minister announced that the government will block both the SIM card and phone device if a number is flagged for fraud, making it more difficult for perpetrators to continue their activities.
“Once the IMEI of your phone is synced to your phone, it would be easy to know if your number is flagged.
Today the cost of mobile money fraud is GHS10 because once your number is reported to us and we block it, it only costs 10 cedis to get another SIM card so we will block the sim and phone together so that it becomes expensive to do fraud”, he noted.
He further assured that Ghana is taking steps to combat mobile money fraud by introducing this policy that links SIM cards to the National Identification Authority’s biometric database and registers phone devices using the Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR). This move according to him aims to prevent fraudsters from easily obtaining new SIM cards and committing crimes.
The CEIR will help track and identify stolen or counterfeit devices, and the biometric SIM registration will ensure that SIM cards are linked to legitimate users. This initiative is expected to boost trust in digital financial services, improve transaction traceability, and reduce cybercrime risks.
The government has been working to address mobile money fraud, which has resulted in significant financial losses. In 2023, the Bank of Ghana reported 13,451 cases of financial fraud, with 20% tied to mobile money. The new policy is a step towards creating a more secure digital ecosystem.
