The Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) in collaboration with the Ghana Association of Bankers, has arrested four (4) persons engaged in SIM swap fraud.
According to a representative of the Association of Banks, Mr. Ransford Nana Addo Jnr, the four (4) persons were picked up at various locations in the country for colluding and illegally accessing the accounts of some Ghanaians, from which they stole various amounts.
It emerged that they managed to withdraw an amount of about GHC200,000 in their modus operandi before their cover was blown and subsequently apprehended by officials of EOCO who were working closely with the banks.
The latest arrest comes months after the Executive Director of EOCO, COP Maame Yaa Tiwaa Addo-Danquah (Mrs) and her team met with Mr. John Awuah CEO of the Ghana Association of Bankers to collaborate with them in fighting fraud in the sector which is a leading cause to revenue leakages.
Commenting on the successful operation, the CEO of the Ghana Association of Bankers, Mr. John Awuah praised the collaborative efforts with EOCO resulting in the arrest of the fraudsters. He cautioned miscreants that the banks were sharing intelligence and have enhanced cooperation with all security agencies especially EOCO to rid the banking sector of fraudsters.
SIM swap fraud occurs when fraudsters obtain a new SIM card from a person’s mobile service provider using the person’s registered phone number. They can get One Time Passwords (OTPs) and other alerts required to conduct financial transactions through the person’s bank account with the help of this new SIM.
In the 2020 banking sector fraud report released by the Bank of Ghana, Banks witnessed a marginal increase in reported fraud incidents with a minimal decrease in losses.
The reduction in losses was mainly due to a reduction in the rate of success for most fraud types. Total case counts of 2,670 were recorded in the year 2020, as compared to 2,311 cases in 2019.
The reported value of fraud for 2020 was GH¢1.0 billion, as compared to GH¢115.51million recorded in 2019. The notable increase in the value reported was as a result of high values recorded in attempted correspondent banking fraud (forgery of SWIFT advice). Even though the banking sector did not suffer any losses from any of the correspondent banking fraud attempts, it posed a reputational risk to some banks, whose staff were found culpable in two of the three reported incidents. Losses incurred as a result of fraud for 2020 stands at GH¢25.40 million, as compared to an estimated loss of GH¢33.44 million in 2019, representing a 24.0% decrease.