Trader Helpless and Business in Limbo as 10 fraudulent SIM registrations Get Her MoMo Account Blocked

“I registered only two SIMs. One in Winneba and one in Kumasi. But my Ghana Card has been used to register ten. Because of that, my MoMo account has been blocked. I can’t access about GH¢1,500, which belongs to someone else, and the person thinks I have spent it,” This is the frustration of Gifty Akyer, a petty trader at Kantamanto, who is now helpless as a result of fraudulent SIM registration.

Unknown to her, her Ghana Card has been used to register 10 SIM cards, which has resulted in the blocking of her personal mobile money account.  

Her goal every morning, long before the bustle of Kantamanto market begins, is to sell children’s goods and make enough to keep her small business afloat. But for the past four months, her trade has been hanging by a thread. Not because customers have stopped buying, but because her mobile money account, the heartbeat of her transactions, has been locked.

The money may sound small to some, but for Gifty, it is the obstacle between restocking her goods and leaving her table at the market half-empty. It is the obstacle between a good week and one of borrowing to survive.

What makes her ordeal harder to accept is the fact that the SIM re-registration exercise, which has tied every number to the Ghana Card through biometric data, was meant to prevent such fraud and not expose her to it.

“I don’t understand how MTN allowed this to happen. I’ve always been careful with my Ghana Card because I know it can be misused,” she said, her tone rising in frustration. “Now my business is suffering, and someone’s money is locked in my account.”

For months, she has been moving from one MTN branch to another. First in Winneba, then in Kumasi, now at Mallam Junction; but each time she is told the same thing: “The network is down, come back later.” That phrase has become a wall between her and the money, which is badly needed.

Sadly, she is not the only person suffering this fate. On Wednesday afternoon, 1st October 2025, the Mallam Junction office was overflowing with frustrated customers like her. Dozens queued under the heat, waiting to register their SIM cards. Some leaned against walls with their heads buried in their phones, and others muttered angrily at the pace of service.

Bismark Koranteng, who had already been waiting for twenty minutes, shook his head when asked about the experience. “I expected the process to be quicker. For me, if I knew there was an option to do it at home, I would have done that instead,” he said.

For Bismark, the delay was inconvenient. For Gifty, it was devastating. As a petty trader who survives on quick turnovers, a blocked MoMo account is not just an inconvenience but a chain on her entire livelihood. Every day her GH¢1,500 remains trapped, she loses opportunities to buy stock, pay suppliers, and satisfy customers who depend on her.

Introduced to enhance financial inclusion, Mobile money has become the backbone of Ghana’s informal economy, a system that more than half of adults rely on for savings, payments, and trade.

According to the Bank of Ghana, transactions surpassed GH¢ 3 trillion in 2024, underscoring just how deeply it is woven into the financial fabric of the country. Yet the very system meant to protect users like Gifty now risks pushing them into financial despair.

Telecom operators like MTN are under pressure to carry out the government’s directive of re-registration while maintaining efficiency, but growing cases of fraudulent SIMs, blocked accounts, and sluggish services point to worrying cracks in the system. Regulators, too, continue to defend the exercise as vital in fighting fraud, yet the question is, how sure are we that this new registration exercise won’t end up like the previous ones for stories such as that of Gifty to recur.

Analysts warn that if left unresolved, such loopholes will weaken public trust in mobile money. For the average Ghanaian, however, this is not just about confidence in the system; it is about survival.

“I have to go to Kantamanto to buy goods for resale, but my money is locked. I can’t keep chasing MTN when I need to work,” Gifty said, walking away from the Mallam Junction branch after yet another fruitless attempt.

Gifty’s predicament is a testament to how Ghanaians bear the brunt of poorly implemented policies and the shoddy work of those in authority. Her words cut through the statistics and the official assurances, laying bare the human cost of a system gone wrong. Behind every biometric registration number is a life, a livelihood, and in Gifty’s case, a business on the verge of collapse.

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