Can You Spot a Scam? Consumer Protection and Scam Identification in Kenya

Kenya is a global leader in digital financial service (DFS) usage; in 2021, 68.6 percent of Kenyans aged 15+ had a mobile money account, according to the Global Findex Database. But a growth in DFS use also means a bigger pool for fraudsters to fish from. An IPA survey found that 56 percent of Kenyan DFS users had experienced a phishing attempt by phone or text. But can people actually identify these scams? And if not, can we use fraud prevention tools to teach people how to identify scams?

In this webinar, researchers Lisa Spantig, Elif Kubilay, and Lucy Kaaria present their recent findings from a research project in Kenya, in which they study phone scams, develop a novel measure of consumers’ ability to spot them, and measure the effectiveness of scam education. The researchers are joined by Boniface Kamiti (Competition Authority of Kenya) and Willie Blackmon (Innovations for Poverty Action) to discuss consumer protection in DFS in Kenya and how these recent findings can impact local consumers.