Rwanda recorded a 60 percent decline in digital payment fraud cases in 2025, according to data from the National Bank of Rwanda (BNR).
The central bank revealed the figures during the Monetary Policy Committee and Financial Stability Committee press conference held on Thursday, February 2.
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According to the bank’s officials, reported digital payment fraud cases reduced from about 5,000 in December 2024 to approximately 3,000 in 2025. Mobile money transactions continue to account for the highest number of reported cases.
"What we have observed as the central bank is that fraud linked to the use of digital payments have decreased in 2025, thanks to different coordinated action by the central bank, security organs, and service providers themselves,” said Soraya Hakuziyaremye, BNR Governor.
Awareness campaigns and supervision
Speaking at the press conference, Moise Bigirimana, BNR’s Financial Inclusion and Education Manager, said public education campaigns have played a significant role in reducing cases, particularly Bimamatwi campaigns and cashless payment awareness initiatives aimed at helping users detect and avoid fraudulent schemes.
These campaigns, Bigirimana noted, ensure that financial service consumers remain informed as fraudsters continuously adapt their tactics.
The bank’s governor cited the Fraud Prevention Forum, a multi-stakeholder platform bringing together the central bank and key institutions to monitor the root causes of fraud and take preventive action.
In addition, the central bank has reinforced supervision of IT systems across payment service providers (PSPs) to ensure that the digitisation of financial services remains secure and operationally sound.
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Refund mechanism remains a challenge
Despite the decline in digital payment fraud cases, Hakuziyaremye acknowledged that refund mechanisms in mobile money services remain complex.
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She explained that while each payment service provider operates under its own refund policy within central bank regulations, refunds cannot be fully automatic, as this could encourage misuse.
"If we were to allow everyone who pays for goods on a merchant code and then sends a message saying this was an error, what you would see is people buying goods and then claiming it was an error,” she said.
"They would have the goods, leave the shop, and then ask the PSP to refund the money.”
She explained that for that reason, current procedures require confirmation from the recipient before a refund is processed, to prevent abuse of the system.
The governor acknowledged that in some cases, recipients may refuse to return funds sent in error, sometimes in bad faith. Such cases may require investigation and in certain cases, legal action.