The Bank of Ghana (BoG), in its yearly Financial Fraud Report, has disclosed that the number of fraud cases on the platforms of the various payment service providers (PSPs) has significantly increased.
The apex bank, however, added in its report that despite the rise in fraud cases, the amount of money stolen or lost by users of the PSPs has reduced.
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A 20% rise in PSP fraud cases
According to the report, the number of fraud cases skyrocketed to 14,655 compared to the cases recorded in 2022. In 2022, a total of 12,166 fraud cases were recorded – this marks a 20% rise in 2023.
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The amount of money lost was heavily reduced from GHS26 million in 2022 to GHS16 million in 2023, showing a 38% decline.
Beyond PSP fraud, mobile money fraud is rising steadily
On the other hand, fraud via mobile money and other stand-alone digital finance apps is also fast-rising, and the Bank of Ghana has expressed concerns about the situation, mainly because those are the channels driving financial inclusion.
Mobile money fraud accounts for 8% of the recorded cases by the apex bank in 2023.
The report further stated that at the end of 2023, electronic customer accounts had reached 65.6 million, with 22.8 million being active users.
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The volume of transactions for the same period reached 6.8 billion – which was a 36% increase compared to 5 billion in 2022) with a corresponding transaction value of GH¢1.9 trillion.
The report noted: “E-money usage across various networks and channels has made financial services more accessible for millions of Ghanaians and ultimately fostered financial inclusion.
“Customers of e-money platforms perform a wide range of services including payments of insurance, investments, remittances, among others.”
The way forward
The BoG concluded that because of the increasing fraud cases recorded in the sub-sector, it is essential for stakeholders to raise more awareness through sensitisation programs, strengthening security measures and taking proactive measures to solve the problem.