Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting: Vigilance critical to tackle digital fraud
Panellists at the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting have stressed that public vigilance and awareness remain the most effective tools to combat digital fraud in the country.
They said while institutions continued to invest heavily in technology and security systems, fraudsters were increasingly exploiting human vulnerabilities to perpetrate crimes.
The experts nonetheless gave an assurance that the country was fully prepared to confront cyber threats due to significant investments in cybersecurity infrastructure, legal reforms and law enforcement capacity.
Consequently, the panellists warned that public awareness remains the biggest challenge despite ongoing education campaigns by banks, the Cyber Security Authority (CSA) and law enforcement institutions.
The experts were contributing to the Graphic Business/Stanbic Bank Breakfast Meeting panel discussion in Accra yesterday on the theme: “Shine your eyes: Combating financial fraud in Ghana through collaboration and innovation”.
The breakfast meeting, an initiative of the Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) and the bank, is a quarterly dialogue series that features selected topics aimed at influencing government policies in favour of business and the environment.
It brought together players in the private sector, policymakers, government officials and experts in the cyber space to deliberate and offer solutions to combat financial fraud.
The panellists were the Director of the Financial Forensics Unit at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Headquarters, Chief Supt Stephen Akowuah; Chief Risk Officer at Stanbic Bank, Felicity Osafo Sampong; and Principal Manager in charge of Law and Enforcement, Liaison Unit at the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Theophilus Botchway.
Chief Supt Akowuah stressed that vigilance and collaboration remained critical in the fight against financial fraud, particularly in an increasingly digital and interconnected world.
He explained that cyber-enabled financial crimes were borderless and could be perpetrated by people operating from outside the country, making public awareness and information sharing essential.
“All of us have to collaborate; all of us have to be alert; all of us have to be vigilant. We have to share information, and with that we can go further in winning the battle against financial fraud,” he said.
Targeted awareness
Chief Supt Akowuah underscored the need for intensified public education, particularly among mobile money vendors, whom he said were often unknowingly used by fraudsters to carry out scams.
He explained that in many reported cases, victims were deceived into believing they had won prizes and were directed by callers to nearby mobile money agents to facilitate transactions.
Chief Supt Akowuah said some vendors, unaware that a fraud was taking place, followed the instructions of the callers and transferred money on behalf of victims, thereby complicating investigations.
“We are expecting that the mobile money vendor will be the one who will alert the phone owner that no, this thing is a scam; but in many cases they are also not aware of what is going on,” he said.
He called for awareness campaigns to be extended to points of sale and mobile money outlets to equip operators with the knowledge needed to identify suspicious transactions and help to sanitise the financial ecosystem.
Biggest challenge
Mr Botchway said the country had made significant progress in strengthening its cybersecurity architecture through investments in institutions, legal reforms and law enforcement capacity.
He explained that laws such as the Cybersecurity Act were being updated, while security agencies continued to enhance their capabilities to respond to emerging digital threats.
However, he stated, public awareness remained the weakest link in the fight against cybercrime, as many people still underestimated their vulnerability to fraud.
“The only thing that I think is left is awareness.
The banks are doing awareness, the Cyber Security Authority is doing awareness, and law enforcement is also doing awareness, but people are still falling victim to these frauds,” he said.
He stressed that although awareness campaigns were yielding results, more work was needed to convince the public that cyber threats were real and could affect anyone,
He urged the public to remain vigilant and “shine their eyes” against fraudsters.
Real-life examples
For her part, the Chief Risk Officer called for the use of real-life fraud cases in public education campaigns to make cybersecurity awareness more relatable and impactful.
She said many victims continued to fall prey to scams because they assumed fraudsters targeted only less-informed people when in reality anyone could be affected.
“I think we should bring in real-life cases just to let people be aware that because they are manipulating human behaviour and not so much the systems that control it, the person just needs to be alert,” she said.
Urging the public to think carefully before responding to unsolicited offers or requests for money, she added that people often acted on excitement before assessing the risks involved.
