The Annual Financial Fraud Report from the Bank of Ghana indicates that in 2023, a total of GHS4.633 million was lost to SIM swap fraud in Ghana.
Per the report, analysis of the 2023 data showed that fraud heightened in fraudulent withdrawals from victims’ accounts, cyber/email fraud, and cash theft (cash suppression), whereas another area of concern was SIM swap related fraud, where SIM numbers linked to bank accounts were fraudulently taken over and monies subsequently withdrawn from the accounts.
This form of fraud targets individuals who have banking applications on their mobile phones and have linked their bank accounts to mobile money wallets,” the report said.
This is the first time SIM Swap Fraud has been captured in the report, and it is already topping six other forms of fraud – ATM/Card/POS Fraud – GHS3.528 million, Remittance Fraud – GHS1.555 million, Other Burglary – GHS269,000, Lending/Credit Fraud – GHS657,000, Impersonation – GHS674,500, and other forms of fraud – GHS1.961 million.
Indeed, last year, Techfocus24 reported at least three cases of SIM Swap fraud in which three customers of Ecobank and MTN in particular lost GHS250,000 in one case, GHS4,000 plus US$8,000 in another case, and GHS32,000 in another.
The Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO) put out some names and pictures of SIM swap fraudsters and some five suspects were also arrested and put before court last year.
Some mobile money agents also revealed that no SIM swap process cannot be started and completed remotely without the involvement of telco staff; and possibly no swapped SIM can be used to wipe a victim’s bank account without the involvement of a bank staff.
But in all these incidents, there were reports of some outsiders having be traced to their hideouts and arrest, but no telco and bank staff were named and shamed in the process.
Staff complicit
However, the Fraud Report noted that with regards to the new fraud types that is emerging, particularly SIM swap fraud, unfortunately some staff of banks and SDIs, who are supposed to safeguard the financial systems are being compromised.
Per the report, the number of staff involved in fraudulent activities in Banks and SDIs rose from 188 in 2022 to 274 in 2023, representing an increase of 46%.
Out of the 274 cases of fraud recorded involving staff in 2023, 211 (77%) were involved in
cash theft (cash suppression), as compared to 140 (66%) staff involved in 2022.
In Nigeria recently, some 49 workers of financials institutions were reportedly fired for their involvement in fraud in the second quarter of this year, resulting in the loss of N42.6 billion to financial institutions. But in Ghana nothing was said about staff being fired or prosecuted for engaging in fraud.
Way out
The BOG expressed concern about this statistic and urged the Banks and SDIs to strengthen their internal controls and enhance staff due diligence during recruitment, as well as reinforcing continuous in-house staff training on professional conduct.
The BoG also urged the PSPs and mobile money operators to comply with the provisions of section 34 (3) (a) and (b) of the Payment Systems and Services Act 2019 (Act 987), which requires them to deactivate the electronic money account of a customer for two days when that customer swaps or replaces a SIM card and re-activate the electronic money account only after the customer presents a valid identification to mitigate the occurrences of SIM swap related fraud.
PSPs should implement robust financial fraud programs and processes to curb SIM swap related fraud,” it said. “The PSPs must deploy Ghana Card verification systems to all their agents to minimise SIM swap impersonation.”