Mobile telecommunication giant MTN has introduced a second security feature that allows its agents to verify the identity of customers who come to ‘cash out’ with their ID cards.
The added feature rides on the back of the company’s earlier decision that required all MoMo agents to demand valid identity cards from customers who withdraw money from their mobile money wallets.
Why the new feature and how it works?
The new feature, labeled “second layer validation” works by cross-referencing the details of a customer’s ID card with that of the customer’s bio-data.
“Because the ID validation platform is not in sync with our site, you cannot actually tell if a particular ID is actually the person you are dealing with when it comes to the wallet holder. So we’ve added another layer of control which now helps the agent doing the transaction to see the details of the owner of the wallet. It allows the agent to validate that against the ID that is presented and that helps the agent to now proceed to execute a transaction in a proper manner. So that has also been implemented and our agents have access to that further layer of control,” CEO of Mobile Money Limited, Eli Hini, said in an interview monitored by Ghana Talks Business.
According to Eli Hini, Momo agents are to ensure the name and details on the ID card tally with the information on the system otherwise the withdrawal process must be terminated.
“If you are performing a transaction, the name on the ID card must tally with the one on the system, it cannot be anyone else. So, you cannot proceed when the names do not tally, the agent must immediately discontinue with the process and advise the person because he may be a fraudster,” said Eli Hini
“Agents who default on this directive may be cautioned on the first instance but when repeated maybe blacklisted,” he further added.
MTN has undertaken these stringent steps to curb the occurrences of fraud in mobile money transactions.
