It is emerging that the financial loss suffered by victims of fraudulent online investment schemes may only be the beginning of a much bigger problem since the impact goes beyond just lost investment.
A cybersecurity expert, Abdul-Mumin Iddrisu, is warning that many unsuspecting users are also surrendering highly sensitive personal information that could expose them to identity theft, fraud, harassment, and other cybercrimes.
Speaking on The High Street Talk, an X Space organised by The High Street Journal on the theme “Unpacking Illegal Online Investment Schemes: Risks, Red Flags, and Consumer Protection”, Abdul-Mumin Iddrisu said many fake investment platforms disguise themselves as legitimate financial services by requesting extensive Know Your Customer (KYC) information from users.
According to him, some of these platforms ask users to upload copies of their Ghana Card, provide residential address details, and even submit contacts who can serve as references, creating the impression that they are conducting standard verification procedures.
However, he added that users often have no idea how this information will ultimately be used. Abdul-Mumin Iddrisu explained that many of these applications also request access to phone contacts and other personal data during installation.
“They’ll require you to send in your Ghana Card for verification, some address to verify your residence, and some of them even require you to have references that they can also contact. You share all this, your personal information, with them without knowing what exactly they are going to use it for.
“We’ve seen the case where the loan one, where you fail to pay, and they start contacting everybody in your contact list. You don’t know how they got it, but you permitted that app to have access to your contact list. Immediately you installed it,” he noted.
Because most people routinely approve permission requests without reading them, they unknowingly grant fraudsters access to sensitive information stored on their devices.
That access, he noted, can later be weaponised against victims. He cited the growing trend of fraudulent digital lending applications that shame borrowers by contacting family members, friends and colleagues after gaining access to their contact lists, through permissions users had unknowingly granted when installing the apps.
“When they usually ask you for approvals, we don’t read; it’s a human thing, we usually don’t read what approvals you are actually granting the application. But you’ve already granted the application access to all your data, your contacts on your phone, and they use that against you in the end,” he added.
For many experts in the area, in an era where data has become a very critical and important commodity, leaving one’s data in the hands of fraudsters and unscrupulous persons comes with serious consequences.
His caution seeks to throw light on a growing but often overlooked danger of illegal online investment schemes. Beyond draining victims’ savings, these platforms can harvest valuable personal data that may be exploited for impersonation, social engineering attacks, financial fraud, or sold to criminal networks.
For him, before uploading your Ghana Card, sharing personal details, or approving app permissions, verify the legitimacy of the platform. Otherwise, the true cost of falling victim may extend far beyond the money lost.
