Millions feared lost in Uganda mobile money hacking

By Russell Padmore

More than a million dollars may have been stolen by cyber criminals who attacked Uganda's mobile digital payment system over the weekend, although that has not been confirmed by the telecom companies or banks.

Stanbic Bank and the mobile operators MTN and Airtel have admitted there was an “incident.”

More than 20 million people using mobile payment platforms have been affected since Saturday.

Telecom giant MTN has described the hacking - which targeted the company that moves the money Pegasus Technologies - as "unprecedented" because of the scale and magnitude of the crime.

The mobile digital payment system could be out of commission for a month as investigations continue.

Internet use has also been disrupted because owners of mobile devices use money transfers to pay for data.

Mobile transactions are worth more than $7bn a year in Uganda.

This article was originally published by BBC News. [Photo: Getty Images]