By Mabel Adorkor Annang
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Association of Banks, John Awuah, says while digital platforms bring convenience, they also create vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit.
He stressed the urgent need for collaboration among banks, telecommunications companies, fintechs and technology providers to bring greater security to the digital landscape.
Speaking at the launch of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month in Accra, Mr Awuah said: “As you transact, you are leaving a footprint that can be exploited, that can be abused because we are the cybercriminals who are always looking for opportunities to hurt us. So, as a community, as we decide to go digital, there are a lot of things that we have to do together.”
The Bank of Ghana’s 2025 fraud report revealed that fraud cases across banks and payment service providers surged by 48%, rising from 16,733 in 2024 to 24,778 in 2025, with GH¢101 million at risk.
The payment service provider sector was hit hardest, with electronic fraud incidents rising by 54% and the value at risk nearly doubling.
At the continental level, Africa processed $1.1 trillion in digital transactions in 2025, but cybercrime-related losses more than doubled to $484 million, while the number of victims rose from 35,000 to 87,000.
The Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority, Divine Agbeti, said this year’s campaign reinforces the need to ensure that Ghana’s digital future is shaped not only by innovation but also by how safely it is pursued.
He said: “A convincing voice may be cloned, as already said. A legitimate email account may be compromised. A trusted employee or vendor may be exploited. A payment instruction may be altered within minutes. Artificial intelligence is making impersonation and social engineering faster, cheaper, and more convincing.”
The Deputy Minister for Communication, Digital Technology and Innovation, Mohamed Adam Suparu, said cybercriminals were constantly changing their methods to exploit unsuspecting victims.
“Every day they keep changing their techniques. It’s no longer taking our details from our Facebook, and as they are aware that unemployment is a very serious situation, people are desperate. They do all kinds of things just to get access to your details, to use it, to then come after you. When they are dealing with you, no mercy for you. They deal with you as though there’s no tomorrow,” he said.
The Director-General of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana Police Service, COP Lydia Donko, said cybercrime was no longer an isolated offence but an industrialised, borderless criminal ecosystem.
She said this had necessitated changes in the department’s mode of operation to enable it to respond more effectively to growing digital threats.
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