NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

By Abraham Augustine

By 2025, more than half the population of sub-Saharan Africa—600 million people—will be connected through mobile telephony. But right beside the entrepreneurs and institutions taking advantage of the opportunities from the mobile telephony revolution, sophisticated cybercrime rings are making bank from the pilfered call credits of unsuspecting mobile phone users.

There is a good chance if you are one of the approximately 500 million mobile subscribers in Africa, that you have been a victim without even knowing it. If your airtime has ever been reduced inexplicably, or “someone” subscribed you to a service without your consent, it is almost certain that you were a victim of one of the most common mobile frauds—carrier billing fraud.

Direct carrier billing fraud happens when your airtime is diverted to pay for unsolicited services, or when it is stolen outright. This can happen when users inadvertently click on banner ads or download applications with malware in them.

Photo courtesy of WorldRemit Comms.