According to, Mustapha Mugisa, a forensic specialist with Summit Consulting, a firm based in Uganda’s capital city Kampala, thousands of people in Uganda are losing mobile money in hands of hackers.

He says that hackers and conmen target peasants and other lower end people who use the mobile money services as savings bank accounts yet the telecom companies in Uganda have not taught them basic security precautions they need to take while using telecoms as bank accounts.

Mugisa says that most of the businesses connected to internet are in danger of being hacked and so there should be wary about the growing cyber fraud. Most times, hackers take advantage of the ignorance of most service providers and clients respectively to hack into company data bases and steal information. However police sources told us that hackers sometimes use people working in respective businesses like mobile telecoms to steal information and steal peoples’ cash.

The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) however warns telecommunications companies in Uganda (MTN, Warid telecom, Airtell telecom, Uganda Telecom, K2 telecom, and Orange telecom) to exercise caution when dealing with mobile money transactions.

The warning follows the rising cases of fraudulent transactions in mobile money services. Many people complain loss of money against telecommunication companies which the telecoms allegedly refuse to refund. Godfrey Mutabazi, the UCC executive director, confirms the development and says many people report cases of sending money using telecom companies not reaching targeted recipients. He also warns Ugandans to guard against the new wave of cybercrimes.

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