The Bank of Ghana (BoG) in 2016 received reports of a total of 1,001 fraud cases from universal banks, non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) and rural and community banks (RCBs).
The cases, according to the Payment Systems Oversight Report of the Central Bank included the suppression of customer accounts by staff of financial institutions, card fraud, forgery and alteration of documents, manipulation of accounts and negotiable instruments.
Others were the fraudulent collection of international remittances by persons not named as recipients, transactions involving cloned and stolen cheques and fraudulent transfers through hacked email accounts.
The monetary value involved in the cases (both successful and attempted) was about GH¢244.32 million.
This was revealed Thursday at a Seminar on Cyber Security for the clients of NDK Financial Services Limited on the theme: The Emergence of Cyber Crime Activities and its Effects on Businesses.”
Addressing participants at the Seminar, the principal consultant of the e-Crime Bureau, a private cyber security company Alex Oppong observed that some of the crimes were masterminded with the support of insiders.
Although some of these cases were successfully blocked, some industry watchers see it as a wakeup call for banks to invest more in protecting their networks against cyber-attack.
As a result, the regulator served notice that it intends compelling banks to publish their cyber-security policies which they would be required to follow.
“So far the [Central] bank has prepared the banking sector cyber information security guidelines to protect consumers and create a safer environment for online and e-service products. Among others, the guidelines seek to create a secure environment for transaction within the cyber space and guarantee trust and confidence in ICT systems,” said Michael Mensah, Head of ICT at the Central bank.
He continued “we will provide an assurance framework for the design of security policies in compliance to global security standards and best practices by way of cyber and information security assessment.”
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM/with additional information from Daily Graphic
