Bank of Ghana report says cyber fraudsters attempted stealing about GH¢329.7million from banks in 2018

The amount involved, according to the BoG, represents a 190% increase in the value reported in 2017.

The revelation was contained in the central bank’s 2018 report on fraud in the banking sector.

In 2017, cyber fraudsters had attempted to steal more than GH¢116 million from banks among other financial institutions.

Despite the increase in the attempted value in 2018, the BoG reported that GH¢325.8 million was recovered.

The report which was prepared by the Financial Stability Department of the central bank also noted that while banks reported 36 incidents of cyber fraud in 2017, the figure shot up to 174 which represents more than 380% increase year on year.

The Bank of Ghana explained that fraud cases related to cyber-crime in 2018 mainly involved email fraud, fraud through the use of internet banking platforms and fraud perpetrated through mobile money or other digital payment platforms.

“With the upsurge in the linkage of customers’ bank accounts to their mobile money wallets, fraudsters were able to transfer money from customers’ accounts whenever their mobile money or mobile banking credentials are compromised,” the report said.

Adding that “Most common type adopted was email phishing where customers were lured through emails to either update or verify passwords and in the process steal sensitive information of customers.”

Some reported cases, the BOG said, also involved fraudsters hacking into customers email and sending instructions to the customer’s bank for monies to be transferred to either a domestic account or an overseas account.

Bank of Ghana report says cyber fraudsters attempted stealing about GH¢329.7million from banks in 2018

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