Airtel Rwanda announced on Thursday, July 17, 2025, that whenever suspicious messages are detected, customers will receive them with a warning label advising caution.
Airtel Rwanda's Managing Director, Emmanuel Hamez, said the system was launched in response to the growing number of cybercrimes, particularly mobile money fraud.
'This is part of our commitment to enhancing safety and protecting our customers from internet-related crimes and financial fraud. In recent months, we've seen a rise in mobile money theft, particularly through SMS scams. Today, we're pleased to announce that, as of two weeks ago, we've implemented a system that flags potentially fraudulent SMS messages with a warning.'
The AI system analyses messages for characteristics common in scam texts, such as frequently used words by fraudsters, patterns of mass messaging, and other indicators.
Once the AI detects suspicious activity, it flags the message with a warning before delivering it to the customer.
If the sender's number continues to distribute fraudulent messages and is confirmed as suspicious, that number may be blocked.
Gaaga Jean Claude, Managing Director of Airtel Money Rwanda, stated that Airtel worked closely with various government agencies to understand the nature of mobile money fraud, leading to the decision to develop and implement a proactive solution.
He emphasised that using AI to combat cyber fraud is timely, given the growing reliance on digital systems and the evolving tactics of fraudsters.
'AI is an advanced technology that enables machines to mimic human intelligence, and it is widely used around the world. That's why we adopted it, to enhance the security of our customers' funds,' he said.
Gaaga added that Airtel already had a system in place to help customers recover stolen money when reported, and it has proven effective. Statistics show that mobile money fraud incidents involving Airtel customers remain below 2% of total reported fraud cases nationwide.
The new fraud detection system is free of charge and doesn't require customers to register, as it has been automatically activated for all Airtel users.
Airtel Rwanda also plans to expand the warning system to detect fraud not only in SMS, but also in phone calls and social media messages used by scammers to steal money.
IGIHE
