In December 2024, Patrick Mulumba, a Ugandan worker in Saudi Arabia, lost millions of shillings from his Centenary Bank account due to an online banking scam. Shs1.99m was taken out first, then Shs1.95m, making a total of Shs3.94m.
The bank opened an investigation into the event after Mulumba’s emotional TikTok video went viral on December 28. On January 5, the bank released a statement asserting that Mulumba had been tricked into sharing his PIN information through fake website.
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Tricked into divulging his account details via a fake website
Fabian Kasi, Managing Director of Centenary Bank, claims that the victim was tricked into divulging his credentials via a website that looked genuine.
The bank stated unequivocally that it never requests customer information online or over the phone.
According to the 2022 Annual Crime and Road Safety Report, at least 82 cases of corporate and bank fraud were recorded in 2022, up from 102 cases in 2021, indicating that these kinds of incidents are part of a bigger trend.
Only 23% of East African banks implement complete cybersecurity frameworks
Despite the African Union’s 2022 directive on the security of digital financial services, only 23 percent of East African banks have put in place complete cybersecurity frameworks.
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These fraudulent occurrences highlight a critical problem facing Africa’s emerging fintech sector: the urgent need for robust cybersecurity safeguards and comprehensive user education to combat the rising tide of online fraud.
While mobile money and online banking have revolutionised financial inclusion across the continent, they have also opened up new avenues for sophisticated scams that exploit technological and consumer awareness gaps.
In light of these avoidable scams, banks, regulators, and fintech players need to instantly reassess their priorities, placing a greater emphasis on proactive consumer education, robust authentication processes, and regionally specific fraud detection algorithms.