The value of losses recorded as a result of fraud in Banks and Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions in Ghana in 2021, witnessed a significant jump, rising to GH¢61 million as compared to a loss of GH¢25 million in 2020, representing a 144 % increase in year-on-year terms.
This was captured in the 2021 Banking, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (B&SDI) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMI) fraud report.
Just like was observed in 2020, the 2021 Banking, Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions (B&SDI) and Electronic Money Issuers (EMI) fraud report shows that the gradual shift from a cash-reliant financial sector to a cash-light financial sector through the usage of electronic products and services as a result of impact of COVID-19, has given rise to the involvement of fraudsters who take advantage of vulnerable customers who are not well versed in the usage of these electronic systems, to defraud them.
The year 2021, however, showed a minimal decline of 12.09% in the number of attempted fraud cases of 2,347 for the Banking and SDI sector as compared to 2,670 in 2020.
The significant fraud types that accounted for this figure included ATM card/POS fraud, impersonation, lending and credit fraud, forgery and manipulation of documents, cash suppression and E-money fraud.
ATM card/POS related fraud
ATM card/POS related fraud recorded the highest loss of GH¢22million. This can be attributed to negligence of some customers and weak systems of some financial institutions.
Impersonation
Another significant fraud type was impersonation which recorded a loss of GH¢10 million. This loss can be attributed to lack of due diligence on the part of bank staff and customers of financial institutions when carrying out transactions.
Staff involvement
Staff involvement in fraud, which constitutes 53.46% of total fraud cases, continued to increase in the year under review.
EMI related fraud
The Electronic Money Issuers (EMI) sector reported a significant number of mobile money (MOMO) fraud incidents and loss values in 2021. EMIs recorded 12,350 MOMO-related fraud incidents in 2021. The total value of fraud reported by EMIs for 2021 amounted to GH¢14.2 million. The total E-Money-related loss recorded by EMIs in 2021 amounted to approximately GH¢12.8 million.