By: Benjamin Nii Nai Anyetei
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is becoming a major force behind Africa’s growing cybercrime problem, with AI now enabling 55% of reported cybercrime cases and related financial losses rising to $484 million, the Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), COP Lydia Yaako Donkor, has disclosed.
According to COP Donkor, the figures contained in Interpol’s 2026 African Cyber Threat Assessment reflect the increasing sophistication, scale and financial impact of cybercrime across the continent.
She made the disclosure at the launch of the 2026 National Cyber Security Awareness Month for the Ghana Police Service and the wider law enforcement community.
COP Donkor said criminals are increasingly exploiting artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency to expand their operations, with generative AI providing tools for producing convincing phishing messages, cloning voices, creating synthetic images and videos, and automating personalised deception.
“Cybercrime is no longer merely isolated offending. It is increasingly an industrialised, borderless criminal ecosystem,” she said.»
She noted that Ghana’s rapid digital transformation, while creating opportunities for economic growth and financial inclusion, has also expanded the avenues available to cybercriminals.
The increasing use of mobile money, internet banking, digital payment applications, online commerce and instant transfers, she explained, has created a wider digital environment for criminals to target individuals, businesses and financial institutions.
COP Donkor said organised cybercrime networks are deploying social engineering, stolen identities, mule accounts, compromised devices, malicious links, fake businesses, cryptocurrency and fraudulent investment schemes to obtain and move illicit funds.
She stressed that the speed at which digital funds can be transferred across platforms and jurisdictions has made cybercrime increasingly difficult to contain using conventional investigative approaches.
In response, the CID has expanded its use of technology and digital evidence in criminal investigations.
COP Donkor said digital evidence is increasingly critical to investigations involving cyber-enabled fraud, extortion, kidnapping, child exploitation and organised crime.
She urged law enforcement agencies to strengthen their technological capabilities and called for greater public awareness as criminals adopt more sophisticated tools to impersonate individuals, organisations and trusted institutions.
The launch of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month is expected to reinforce public education and law enforcement efforts to improve digital safety and strengthen Ghana’s response to emerging cyber threats.
Related
Click Here For The Original Source.
