Woman arrested over bank cyber attack

A woman has been arrested in connection with the hacking of the software of one of the universal banks in the country, bringing the number of arrested persons to seven.

The woman, identified as Aisha Konate, an Ivorian, was arrested following the interrogation of the six men who had been earlier arrested.

All the seven arrested persons have so far been granted police enquiry bail and will be assisting the police in their investigations, after which they will be put before court.

Their bail terms include a sum of GH¢8 million, two public servants and one other as sureties.

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Bank software hacked: GH¢46 million stolen

Arrest

The Cyber Crime Unit of the Ghana Police Service arrested six persons after they had allegedly attacked a bank and succeeded in moving more than GH¢46 million into the bank accounts of eight people in different banks.

Those arrested included a former banker and owner of Adom Sika Savings and Loans Limited, Sam Acquah, and a web developer, James Taylor.

The others were Hudu Abdul Mumuni, Emmanuel Adams, Moro Issah and Agbenu Febous Chrissy, who were arrested when they showed up to withdraw the money transferred into their accounts through the illegal wire transaction.

Suspects

Two other suspects, said to be part of the syndicate and identified only as Boateng Mends and Pussy Cat, are, however, on the run and the police have mounted an intensive search for their arrest.

The cyber hackers allegedly logged into the banking software of the bank remotely and used the login credentials of some staff of the bank, some of whom were on leave, to effect the illegal transfers.

The Director of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Dr Gustav Herbert Yankson, who confirmed the incident, said the unit received a complaint about the fraudulent wire transfer on July 2, 2020.

After receiving the complaints, the banks to which the money had been transferred were alerted to prevent withdrawals, and that prevented the attacked bank from losing any funds.