Last year, fraud in South Africa resulted in financial losses approaching three billion rand. Recognising the scale of this challenge, cross-industry collaboration between the mobile, banking and technology sectors is providing critical defences against financial crime
South Africa is the second country to launch the Scam Signal, following its successful deployment in the UK to help combat Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud, which occurs when criminals deceive individuals or businesses into authorising payments to accounts controlled by the fraudsters.
APP fraud often takes place through sophisticated social engineering tactics such as impersonating trusted organisations or manipulating victims into believing urgent action is required. This type of fraud is particularly significant because, unlike unauthorised transactions, victims have willingly initiated the payments, making it more challenging for banks to halt or reverse the losses.
The launch of Scam Signal in South Africa was the result of a collaborative effort involving several major banks, MTN Chenosis, global data analytics software company FICO and Jersey Telecom (JT), as well as the GSMA, with the initiative going live in October 2025 to enhance fraud protection for millions of banking customers. I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support of the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), whose team coordinated open discussions with banks and mobile network operators to address industry challenges. Their efforts in fostering collaboration were essential to delivering a unified approach to combating financial crime.
Scam Signal is delivered via Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs) that connect banking systems and mobile networks. This enables banks to leverage real-time network intelligence alongside customer and payment data during live transactions, and high-risk activities, to detect and prevent social engineering scams targeting account holders. By identifying predictive indicators of fraudulent activity, it enables banks to better assess transaction risk and make informed decisions about whether to proceed with or block payments, protecting both consumers and financial institutions from loss.
In addition, Scam Signal’s integration into the FICO Platform, Omni Channel Engagement solution allows financial institutions to send personalised, context-aware messages to customers during high-risk transactions, breaking the spell of scammers.
Unfortunately, banks are navigating rising digital banking fraud and scams, but through platforms like MTN Chenosis, they can now build additional fraud protection into their operations in a standardised, API-first way. This means banks can integrate defences into their digital journeys for onboarding, authentication and payment without requiring new infrastructure or connections to multiple providers.
Scam Signal is the latest in a portfolio of API solutions from South African mobile operators designed to enhance authentication of consumers, including real‑time identity verification, SIM‑swap detection and fraud‑risk scoring.
From our experience in both markets, one lesson stands out: cross-industry collaboration is the key to success. In the UK, meaningful collaboration across the ecosystem has proven transformative. Deployments with major MNOs have been described as game-changing, delivering improved detection rates of up to 40% while delivering a false positive ratio of 3:1 for certain strategies.
Working closely with the banking sector in South Africa, and especially with SABRIC, highlighted yet again how instrumental it is to bring together banks and industry partners to create unified strategies that strengthen defences and ensure that we stay ahead of emerging risks.
Waseem Amra, GM for Products and Platforms at MTN Chenosis, affirms that the development of Scam Signal in South Africa followed a similarly collaborative approach: “Our development approach is rooted in industry insights and a clear understanding of the business problem. By drawing lessons from UK deployments and engaging closely with South African banks and partners, we have tailored this service specifically for our market.”
With the successful launches in the UK and South Africa, work is already underway to deploy the solution across additional global markets.
// By Brian Gorman, Fintech Lead at GSMA
