Banks in Ghana have begun rigorous measures to halt cyber fraud in the financial sector.
The move, which is in collaboration with the Bank of Ghana, is targeted at internet fraudsters who dupe unsuspecting bank customers through hacking.
Speaking to Citi Business News in an interview, the Executive Director of CAL Bank, Mr. Philip Owiredu disclosed that engagements with the central bank shows that issues of bank fraud are becoming alarming, hence the decision to reduce it.
“From the information that we have from the central bank, potential money loss if all the fraudulent transactions had gone through would have been about seventy million cedis,” he said.
Even though all the fraudulent transactions did not go through, Mr. Owiredu maintained that the frequency of attempts poses serious threats to the financial sector of the economy.
According to him, the records indicate that criminals who engaged in cyber-crimes are increasingly becoming sophisticated to override the financial system.
Touching on some of the methods used by the fraudsters, Mr. Owiredu stated that they try all possible means available to infiltrate email accounts of customers who transact internet banking.
“They hack into emails and take hold of correspondences and instruct banks to transact businesses on their behalf”, he said.
“We also have issues of ATM fraud where cards are clone”, he added, explaining that some of the fraudsters have tried to infiltrate the systems of some banks to pick data.
Assuring of adequate measures being taken, Mr. Owiredu stated that the engagement with the central bank has been fruitful as loopholes used by the fraudsters are being blocked.
He added that, CAL bank ,as part of its initiative has also beefed up its ICT networks to prevent any infiltration.
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By: Lawrence Segbefia/citibusinessnews.com/Ghana