As the country makes progress in digital payments uptake with more increased frequency of use and larger volumes of transactions, vulnerabilities and cyber fraud is bound to go up.

As more people use digital payment platforms, cyber fraudsters often make attempts to take advantage of unsuspecting users as well as information gaps in the nascent technology.

It is no surprise that cyber fraud rose in 2020 between January and September 2020, 141 cyber fraud cases were reported with Rwf371 million involved. The cases are likely to be much higher considering that some go unreported.

The fraud involved common methods such as sending emails, making phone calls, or text messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Across the year in 2020, there were multiple reported incidents involving different forms of fraud most of them which could be possibly curbed through increased awareness among users.

Among the ways the increase of the vice could be curbed is increased awareness of threats and ways to stay protected led by the service providers who are best placed to be aware of the challenges and vulnerabilities. 

This would ensure that users are always aware of what threats to anticipate in the usage of the various platforms.

This can be ensured by allocating a specific standard and predictable percentage of their annual communications, marketing and visibility efforts toward consumer education with regard to cyber fraud and resultant vulnerabilities. Constantly reminding users and sharing information on approaches users are likely to lose their money will gradually reduce the opportunity seized by fraudsters.

While the approach is not likely to entirely wipe out cyber fraud in the local market, it will definitely curb the occurrence of the most common types of fraud which often depend on the lack of insights among users.

Curbing cyber fraud will also require organizations to adopt a risk management mindset as opposed to solely pursuing compliance as has been witnessed over the previous years.