GH¢61million lost to Banking, SDI and EMI fraud in 2021

A total of Ghc 61million was lost to fraud in banks, Specialized Deposit-Taking Institutions (B&SDI) and Electronic Money Issuers in 2021.

This is according to the B&SDI and EMI fraud report issued by the Bank of Ghana.

The Ghc61million losses in 2021 were a 144.00% increase, year-on-year, compared to GH¢25 million in 2020.

This is in spite of the fact that 2021 saw 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.

According to the report, the significant fraud types included ATM card/POS fraud, impersonation, lending and credit fraud, forgery and manipulation of documents, cash suppression and E-money fraud.

It added that the increase in usage of electronic and digital platforms in the financial sector resulted in an increase in ATM card/POS fraud.

Other fraud types were impersonation, lending and credit fraud, suppression of cash, E-money and forgery and manipulation of documents. However, ATM card/POS-related fraud recorded the highest loss of GH¢22million.

It blamed the negligence of some customers and the weak systems of some financial institutions for the fraud.

According to the report, impersonation caused a loss of GH¢10million and it mostly was due to the lack of due diligence on the part of bank staff and customers of financial institutions when carrying out transactions.

53.46% of total fraud cases involved staff of financial institutions and represents an increase from what was recorded in 2020. Suchlike staff fraud cases increased to 278, in 2021 from 253 in 2020, representing an increase of 9.88% year-on-year.

The report said Rural and Community Banks recorded the highest rate of staff involvement in fraud in 2021, with 46.04%; the Universal banks accounted for 28.06%, while the Savings and Loans companies accounted for 16.55%.

It said the increase in staff involvement in fraud recorded over the last three years shows that the Banking sector, especially the Rural and Community Banking sector had not put in place enough effort into curbing the fraudulent trend.

the BoG said it was strengthening its fraud monitoring activities and enforcement of required internal controls and risk governance within banks, SDIs, EMIs and other regulated entities.

Among these include a notice to the public, banks and other regulated entities on the usage of the Ghana Card as the primary identification document for all financial transactions.

Source: whatsupnewsghana