Information and Communications Technology Association of Malawi (Ictam) president, Bram Fudzulani attributed the success of mobile money scams and other digital frauds in Malawi, to low literacy.

Speaking to The Daily Times newspaper, Fudzulani called on  the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM), Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority and mobile money services providers to create awareness on how consumers can protect their wallets.

Last year, the newspaper also discovered that cybercrimes in Malawi involved inmates who connived with some prison warders to defraud people from the unsuspecting outside world. This is despite the revised Communication Act of 2016, which calls for mandatory registration of all sim cards.

The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) hailed the Sim card registration exercise as “means to identify mobile phone Sim card owners, track criminals who use phones for illegal activities, curb incidents such as loss of phone through theft, hate text messages, fraud, inciting violence and help service providers know their customers better.” according to the Macra website.

This week, A 29-year-old woman has been arrested in Blantyre for stealing money from people’s bank accounts, as Blantyre police deputy publicist Constable Kelvin Nyirenda said the  suspect, Edina Saopa, admitted the crime and revealed that she was working for a life sentence inmate, Subiri Yusuf Utaka, 39, who is serving at Zomba Maximum Prison.

An inspection at Saopa’s house uncovered 10 National Identity cards and 8 sim cards belonging to different subscribers.