The Role Of Public Relations In Building Trust Amid Mobile Money Fraud In Ghana

Abstract

This qualitative study examined public relations’ role in building trust amid mobile money fraud in Ghana. Through semi-structured interviews with 16 mobile money users (ages 24-42, 62.5% female, average 5+ years’ experience), the research investigated PR strategies, their impact on trust, user interpretations of communications, and contextually relevant practices. Thematic analysis revealed four key findings. First, providers primarily use SMS (87.5% of respondents) for fraud prevention, focusing on PIN security warnings and fake number alerts through reactive crisis response. Second, while PR strategies deliver clear messages, they achieve only moderate trust among 68.8% of participants, creating a paradox where fraud awareness limits trust building. Third, users find messages clear and understandable (68.8%) but identify gaps in information completeness and desire personalised communication. Fourth, contextually relevant practices include leveraging underutilised mobile money agents, implementing multilingual strategies, and adopting community-based approaches. The study contributes to crisis communication theory by identifying unique challenges of ongoing fraud-related crises in digital financial services. Key findings reveal that effective fraud prevention communication requires balancing risk awareness with trust building, emphasising protective actions alongside warnings, and leveraging local community relationships. The research provides practical recommendations for mobile money service providers seeking to enhance fraud prevention communication strategies while building sustainable user trust in Ghana’s evolving digital financial landscape.