South Africa launches Scam Signal to tackle real-time bank transfer fraud 🇿🇦 💸

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With fraud-related losses projected to reach nearly 3 billion rand in 2025, South Africa is launching Scam Signal, a technology-driven initiative designed to combat Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud.

Built through a collaboration between banks, mobile network operators, and technology partners, the system aims to detect suspicious transactions in real time — and protect millions of banking customers before the money is gone.

A coordinated response to APP fraud 💳

Authorised Push Payment fraud relies on sophisticated social engineering tactics. Criminals impersonate trusted institutions or create a sense of urgency, convincing victims to willingly transfer funds into accounts controlled by scammers.

Unlike unauthorized transactions, these payments are technically approved by the customer — making them far more difficult to reverse and significantly reducing the chances of recovering lost funds.

Against this backdrop, South Africa becomes the second country after the United Kingdom to deploy Scam Signal. The initiative brings together several major South African banks, MTN’s API platform Chenosis, global analytics software provider FICO, Jersey Telecom (JT), and the GSMA.

The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) also played a key role in coordinating efforts between financial institutions and mobile operators.

Real-time risk analysis ⏱️

Scam Signal is powered by APIs that connect banking systems to mobile networks. This architecture allows banks to tap into telecom network data alongside payment transaction details — in real time.

The goal is to surface predictive fraud indicators. Financial institutions can then assess the risk level of a transfer more accurately and decide whether to block or allow it. The approach is designed to shield both consumers and banks from potentially significant losses.

The solution is also integrated into FICO’s platform through its Omni Channel Engagement module. That enables banks to send personalized, contextual alerts to customers when a transaction appears risky — effectively interrupting the scam before it’s completed and prompting the user to reconsider.

A collaborative, API-first approach 🤝

For MTN Chenosis, the initiative reflects an API-first strategy. Banks can embed these protective mechanisms directly into their digital customer journeys without deploying complex new infrastructure or managing multiple integrations with different providers.

Scam Signal complements an existing portfolio of APIs offered by South African mobile operators, including real-time identity verification, SIM swap detection, and fraud risk scoring.

The UK experience serves as a benchmark. Market feedback from Britain suggests that certain strategies improved fraud detection rates by as much as 40%, while keeping false positives under control in specific use cases. Those results helped inform the adaptation of the model to the South African market.

Toward international expansion 🌍

Beyond the technology itself, project leaders emphasize the importance of cross-industry collaboration. Coordination between banks, telecom operators, technology vendors, and industry bodies is seen as essential to keeping pace with increasingly sophisticated digital threats.

Following successful launches in the UK and South Africa, expansion into additional markets is already under consideration. The broader ambition is to establish a global cooperation framework capable of anticipating emerging risks and strengthening financial ecosystem resilience against cybercrime.

As banking services continue to digitize at speed, integrating intelligent, interconnected protection mechanisms is becoming a strategic imperative — not just for financial stability, but for maintaining user trust in the digital economy.

👉🏾 Do you think this type of technological solution can really curb bank fraud in Africa, or will fraudsters always be one step ahead?