Banks lost GHS 56 million to fraud in 2022

Banks and other financial institutions in the country recorded a total loss value of GHS 56 million attributable to fraud for the year ending 2022.

This is, however, a 7. 8 per cent drop compared to the GHS 61 million recorded in 2021, according to data from the 2022 fraud report compiled by the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Ghana.

The report highlighted attempted and or successful fraudulent activities recorded by these institutions.

In addition to the banks, the others were specialized deposit-taking institutions and payment service providers.

The top five fraud activities that impacted most of the institutions in the sector included forgery and manipulation of documents, fraudulent withdrawals, cheque fraud, cyber/email, and cash theft, also known as cash suppression.

The rest included E-money fraud, ATM fraud, Burglary, Lending and Credit fraud, and Impersonation, amongst others.

According to the data, the year 2022 recorded significant attempted fraud with a loss value of GH¢165 million.

Over this period, the total number of fraud incidents recorded was 15,164.

Out of this number, the PSP sector recorded 12,166 cases, representing 80% of the total fraud count, while the banks and SDIs reported 2,998 cases representing 20% of the total fraud count respectively.

While staff involvement in fraud persists, the numbers have started trending downwards as a result of strict sanctions imposed by the Bank of Ghana and strong advocacy for improved controls by the sector institutions.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Ghana through the Committee for Cooperation between Law Enforcement Agencies and the Banking Committee (COCLAB) will continue to engage the Law Enforcement Agencies to deal with the prosecution of persons involved in fraud.