Bank fraud cases hit GHS63 million in 2023

Banks reported GHS63 million in fraud cases in 2023, up from GHS52 million in 2022, a 21 per cent increase.The top five fraud categories by loss value in 2023 were cash theft (cash suppression), cyber/email fraud, fraudulent account withdrawals, document forgery and manipulation, and cheque fraud.In 2023, Cash Theft (Cash Suppression) had the highest fraud loss at GHS14.8 million, a 14-fold increase from the previous year's GHS1 million, the annual Fraud Report by the Bank of Ghana (BoG) indicated.The report found that cash suppression fraud was mostly prevalent in rural banking, but a few cases recorded by universal banks in 2023 involved significant amounts.The report sought to raise awareness about fraud occurrences and trends to promote the integrity of the banking system.The 2023 report presents fraud typologies found in terms of the services provided by banks, specialized deposit-taking institutions (SDIs), and payment service providers (PSPs).The report stated that a cash theft of $466,000 .00 was documented at a universal bank, which when converted to Cedis resulted in a considerable increase in loss value within the banking sector.'For fraud involving foreign currencies, the total loss value recorded in 2023 stood at $1.7 million and GPB 0.048 million,' it said, noting that those fraudulent activities in forex had a huge impact on the total loss value in Ghana Cedi terms.According to the report, cyber/email fraud resulted in a loss of GHS10.5 million, while illicit withdrawals from accounts cost GHS8.4 million.In 2023, forgery and document manipulation resulted in a loss of GHS6.9 million, a 78 percent decrease from GHS32 million in 2022.Cheques fraud, also cost the sector some GHS6.1 million.Source: Ghana News Agency