• Experts at Cyber Africa Forum 2025 stress consumer education to fight cyber threats
• Social engineering scams, phishing, and money mule schemes are rising across Africa
• GSMA urges mobile money providers to run large-scale awareness

At the Cyber Africa Forum 2025, experts emphasized the urgent need to better educate consumers, calling it the first line of defense against growing cyber threats in the electronic payments sector. The topic was discussed on Wednesday, June 25, during a panel titled “Payment Security: Between Innovation and Cybercrime.”

Speaking at the event, Miguel Sossouhounto, Director of Research and Partnerships at Benin’s National Digital Identification Center (CNIN), explained that most cyberattacks now rely on social engineering. This method exploits users’ lack of awareness to steal confidential information.

Common examples include fake money deposits followed by urgent calls demanding refunds, phishing scams using fake websites to steal login details, and the use of unsuspecting individuals, known as "money mules," to carry out fraudulent financial transactions. Sossouhounto also mentioned more advanced attacks targeting technical systems or databases, though these are less frequent.

Athina Niekou, Marketing Director at Wave Côte d’Ivoire, said her fintech focuses on simplifying its platform to reduce human errors. “We invest heavily in educating our customers. People recognize us because we have many agents in the field educating users. Even through our marketing materials, we promote messages to help customers secure their accounts and adopt smarter habits,” she explained.

This call for increased consumer education comes amid a surge in fraud targeting electronic payment tools like mobile money, which is playing a key role in boosting financial inclusion across Africa. According to a recent GSMA study, 84% of mobile money professionals have observed this trend.

In response, GSMA is urging mobile money providers to launch broad awareness campaigns to inform users about the risks and preventive measures. The association is also calling on public authorities to bring together different stakeholders to collaborate on educational initiatives and information sharing.

One example highlighted by GSMA is Uganda’s multi-channel campaign “Tonfera,” rolled out in 2021 and 2023. It combined radio, television, print media, and social networks to reach a wide audience. These efforts produced positive results, including fewer fraud cases, more reports of attempted scams, with attempted fraud now exceeding successful scams by an estimated ratio of 60:40, and stronger consumer awareness.

At the end of the panel, participants agreed to step up efforts to educate users. However, they stressed that real progress depends on stronger coordination between public and private actors and increased consumer awareness.