Mobile Money Robbery: Subscribers cash safe – MTN Uganda

By Francis Otucu

MTN Uganda has assured Mobile Money subscribers of safety of mobile money services.

In a statement after a hack into telco’s system, MTN Uganda explained, the company provides select mobile money services aggregated or integrated through third parties. On 3 October 2020, an aggregator, Pegasus Technologies Ltd experienced a security breach that impacted Bank 2 Wallet transfers.

“Although the incident did not affect any customer money mobile balances, a limited number of other services aggregated through the third-party provider were suspended as a precautionary safety measure. The core MTN Mobile Money services namely cash deposits, withdrawals, Person to Person (P2P) transactions and MoMo payments were never affected nor compromised at any stage,” MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer, Wim Vanhelleputte.

Wim confirmed probe into the matter: “Investigations led by the Uganda Police Force are ongoing to identify the root cause of the incident. We are confident the Uganda Police Force will conclude their investigations timeously and take appropriate action against the culprits.”

He noted that MTN Mobile Money is compliant with ICT security standards, apologizing for the incident.

“The MTN mobile money platform complies with the highest international ICT security standards and is subjected to regular assessments and reviews by internal and external assurance providers. We apologize to all our customers for any inconveniences and reassure the public that MTN Mobile money services are safe, convenient, and transparent,” Wim said.