It is evident that mobile money-related fraud is increasingly becoming important. Over the past few years, several serious cases of fraud have been reported that have raised concerns within the industry. As mobile payments begin to scale in many markets and new products are introduced, there is growing need to address fraud conclusively. This paper analyses the evolving nature of fraud in the provision of mobile financial services in the three phases of deployment:
1. Customer Acquisition Stage
2. Transaction Activation Stage
3. Value Addition Stage
It highlights five core types of fraud:
1. Customer driven fraud
2. Agent driven fraud
3. Business partner driven fraud
4. System administration fraud
5. Mobile financial service provider fraud
The paper provides numerous and diverse examples of frauds committed on mobile financial services as well as discussing possible mitigation strategies. Fraud is not unique to mobile financial services, it occurs in all financial services. Nevertheless, since mobile financial services are one of the high potential methods to increase financial inclusion and extend financial services to the mass market, fraud in this domain has wider implications. These are discussed along with the role that donors, consultants and regulators might play to help mitigate fraud and reduce its impact.