Fidelity Bank staff schooled to fight cybercrime

Fidelity Bank has embarked on a programme to empower its staff to combat cybercrime, including the prevention of cyber fraud.

The initiative includes organising regular training sessions and seminars on cyber crime for staff and an awards scheme that comprise cash prizes, a plaque and a citation to workers who identify or prevent cyber fraud.

The names of winners who will be described as heroes will be enrolled into a hall of fame at the bank’s head office.

The enterprise is also considered to be the bank’s multilayer defence and filtering system against cybercrime which has been on the rise in the banking sector in recent times.

These were disclosed at a seminar organised by the Fidelity Bank in Accra to commemorate International CyberCrime Day.

On the occasion, staff who had exposed and prevented external fraudsters from committing crime were honoured.

Fraud

At the opening of the seminar, the Head of the Financial Crime Management Department of Fidelity Bank Ghana, Mr Ransford Nana Addo Jnr, said the banking industry could combat cybercrime by empowering staff with requisite information.

He said reports from the Bank of Ghana indicated that fraud in banks were committed by internal staff and contract staff who partnered with external actors to engage in forgery, alter documents and manipulate accounts.

He pointed out that fraud cases relating to cyber-crime involved external parties gaining unauthorised access to the banking system of financial institutions.

The criminals, he said, also engaged in email and Internet banking fraud and exploitation of other localised payment and mobile banking platforms.

Mr Addo Jnr said in the 2017 state of banking sector fraud report released by the Bank of Ghana, a total of 1,418 fraud cases, including 157 ATM card deceptions, were recorded in the banking sector.

“The total value of loses recorded as a result of fraudulent activities transacted with ATM cards was approximately GH¢1.7 million and the cases mainly involved cloning of the cards at point of sale terminals,” he said.

Solution

The banking industry, he said, could combat the menace by adopting a holistic approach, including the use of modern technology, cyber-security strategies and professionals involved in systems development and threat response.

“The Bank of Ghana report identified that vulnerabilities existed because of weak controls in account management in financial institutions and inadequate monitoring tools for controlling insurance and use of banker’s draft, poor customer identification systems at points of transactions and poor internal control procedures in the receipt and payments of cash or deposits,” he said.