Uganda’s mobile-money boom moved nearly Shs 233 trillion last year—but also handed cyber-crooks a lucrative target. Industry data show SIM-swap and account-takeover fraud now account for 41 percent of all reported digital‐finance losses, edging out social-engineering scams. Telecom insiders say staff at call centres are bribed to reissue SIMs using forged national IDs, giving syndicates instant access to customers’ wallets and bank OTPs.
In March 2025 the Uganda Communications Commission directed networks to adopt biometric SIM activation and to block any number that changes ownership more than twice in six months. Banks have followed with “dial-back” verification, but fraud-busting firms argue that real-time telecom-bank data sharing is still missing. Victims rarely recover funds; most cases never reach court because the trail runs through unregistered mobile-money agents. A Bushenyi study found that fear of fraud is already dampening usage in rural areas, threatening financial-inclusion gains
