# How I parse 15+ MoMo SMS formats with 95% accuracy

Mobile Money is how West Africa moves money. In Ghana alone, MTN MoMo, Telecel Cash, and AirtelTigo Money process millions of transactions daily — all confirmed via SMS. If you want to build financial tools for these users, that SMS inbox is your data source. The problem: those messages are unstructured text. Every telco writes them differently. Every transaction type has its own format. There's no API. You get a string and you're on your own. This is how I built a parser that handles 15+ distinct SMS formats reliably. The problem, concretely Here are three real SMS messages from three different telcos, all representing the same transaction type (money sent): MTN: Payment made for GHS 50.00 to DAVID BOATENG. Current Balance: GHS 450.00. Reference: school fees. Transaction ID: 76712833868. Fee charged: GHS 0.50 Telecel: 0000015061132227 Confirmed. You have sent GHS50.00 to 0241234567 - JOHN MENSAH on 2025-09-10 at 13:51:07. Your Telecel Cash balance is GH