Cyber fraud losses in banking sector dip significantly in 2020 - Report

Kenya’s communications regulator has said that the country experienced a record 860 million cyber-attacks in the last 12 months. The regulator said that “the frequency, sophistication and scale of cyber-threats” targeted at Kenya’s critical information infrastructure had increased dramatically. In 2017, Kenya experienced 7.7 million cyber attacks. In July, a high-profile cyber attack attributed to the pro-Russian hacking group Anonymous Sudan cut off access to more than 5,000 online government services in the country, including visa, passport and driving licence applications and renewals. The attack also disabled online train booking systems and mobile money transactions. The Communications Authority of Kenya on Monday said that 79% of the attacks recorded in the last 12 months were caused by cyber criminals infiltrating the computer systems of organisations. The regulator also said that 14% of the attacks involved malicious software, 6.5% involved cybercriminals flooding servers with traffic to overload their infrastructure and the remaining attacks targeted web applications. According to the regulator, Kenya is now the third most-targeted country by cyber criminals in Africa, after Nigeria and South Africa.

Cyber and e-mail fraud has taken a nosedive, the 2020 Banking Industry Fraud Report by the Bank of Ghana has indicated.

According to the report, cyber/e-mail fraud accounted for 1.05% of the total number of fraud cases recorded in 2020.

This is compared to 92.6% registered in 2019.

The report said cyber/e-mail fraud recorded a loss value of approximately ¢1.05 million in 2020, compared to a loss value of ¢14.3 million recorded in 2019.

This remarkable decline, the report said, maybe due to the banking industry’s adherence to the Bank of Ghana’s Cyber Security Directive issued in 2018.

Cyber/E-mail Fraud involves using the internet to gain access to personal financial information to hack into victims’ accounts and misappropriate their funds. The fraud is usually perpetuated through phishing. Phishing refers to the process of sending spam emails or forms of communication to victims to do something that will undermine their financial security.

In 2020, cyber-related crime mainly involved e-mail fraud and fraud on internet payment platforms.

ATM/Card Fraud

In 2020, ATM/Card fraud accounted for 6.3% of the total number of reported cases, compared to a proportion of 4.7% recorded in 2019.

ATM/Card fraud recorded a loss value of approximately ¢8.19 million, representing 32.3% of fraud-related loss incurred in 2020.

This is compared to a loss value of ¢1.26 million recorded in 2019, representing 3.8% of total fraud-related loss incurred in 2019.

Recommendations for the mitigation of Cyber/E-mail fraud

The report recommended that financial institutions and E-Money Issuers should put in place transaction monitoring systems that can identify unusual spending patterns and potentially fraudulent transactions.

It also urged banks to track suspicious activities and thus contact cardholders to check whether a suspicious transaction is genuinely theirs, adding, "if it is not, the card can immediately be hot-listed".

It also stressed that EMoney Issuers can also use transaction monitoring systems to identify and flag suspicious activities by fraudsters who utilize their platforms to perpetuate fraud.

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2020 Banking Industry Fraud Report

Bank of Ghana

Cyber/E-mail Fraud