The Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications, Ken Ashigbey, has disclosed that over four thousand incidents of cyber fraud cases have been identified.

According to him, the Chamber is currently investigating incidents recorded during the piloting of the Fraudulent Control Dashboard.

In its bid to fight cyber fraud activities, Mr. Ashigbey noted that the Chamber is working with stakeholders. This includes state agencies to ensure a total removal of cyber fraud.

“If you come onto the platform, over 4,000 incidents have been flagged and have been worked on. And it is work that is in progress. And we are also going to collaborate with the police CID and the Bank of Ghana for this project.

“The Fraud Control Dashboard is not the end of it all. It’s just one of the tools that we are using to combat fraud.”

Creating awareness on cyber frauds

Touching on what the Chamber has done to counteract the threat, Mr. Ashigbey explained his outfit is constantly educating the public.

He further revealed that the sensitization and awareness also underscore the need to help nip the problem in the bud.

“Already, the networks [telecom] have various means that they are using to be able to flag fraud that comes around. We also constantly are creating awareness. Education is very important. It is important that our consumers, Ghanaians generally, are more cyber aware and we increase our cyber hygiene.

“So, these are some of the tools we are going to use.

“As an industry, we are currently also running campaigns that are educating us on the modus operandi of these fraudsters. It is something that we will continue to do”.

Parliament passes Cybersecurity Act

Parliament in November last year passed the Cybersecurity Act 2020 which establishes the Cyber Security Authority. The Act protects the critical information infrastructure of the country and regulates cybersecurity activities.

The Minister for Communications, Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful signing the memorandum revealed that cybersecurity is critical to economic growth.

“A successful economy is hinged on a secured, safe and resilient national digital ecosystem. Cybersecurity is, therefore, very critical to the economic development of the country and essential to the protection of the rights of individuals within the national digital ecosystem.”

Cybersecurity incidents have affected critical sectors of the country including energy, telecommunications, banking and finance. This has caused disruptions in the delivery of essential services. If unchecked, it can undermine the security and economy of the country.

The Law also addresses offences against children and the general public online as such acts are currently increasing due to the utilization of digital services and platforms especially in this era of COVID-19.

Government has implemented a number of initiatives to improve Ghana’s cybersecurity development. This includes the revision of Ghana’s National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy and the National Cyber Security Centre.

Similarly, the launch of the Safer Digital Ghana campaign and Cybercrime and Cybersecurity Incident Reporting Points of Contact addresses such problems.