I have fallen victim to cybercrime on many occasions - North East Regional Minister

The North East Regional Minister, Mr Solomon Namliit Boar, has expressed worry over the frequent use of his identity by cybercriminals to defraud unsuspecting Ghanaians on various social media platforms.

“I have on a number of occasions fallen victim to cybercrime and in the last six months, people have been scammed through the use of fake social media account that bears my name and pictures”.  

Mr Boar expressed this concern during a Regional Cyber Security Sensitisation Programme organized by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in Nelerigu in the North East Region.

According to him, the engagement by the NCSC is a timely one since many individuals have limited knowledge on cybersecurity issues, stressing on the need for participants who were predominately heads of departments at the Regional Coordinating Council to organise sessions for their departmental teams to help improve their knowledge of cybersecurity issues.  

The Regional Cyber Security engagement which commenced on the 2nd of October, 2020 in Wa, is part of activities to mark the 2020 National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) event which is recognised as a flagship programme aimed at promoting awareness and capacity building among Ghanaians.

Aaron Felix Opoku, of the NCSC who delivered a presentation indicated that although Ghana has exhibited strong commitment towards the development of cybersecurity, in other areas, cybersecurity culture among the public remains the biggest stumbling block.

“Findings of the Cybersecurity Maturity Model conducted by the Ministry of Communications indicates that cybersecurity and society which deals with cybersecurity mind-set, trust and confidence on the internet, user understanding of personal information protection online, reporting mechanisms and media and social media are the biggest challenge facing the country.”

Speaking in an interview on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Kojo Antwi Tabi, Regional Police Commander for the North East region said although many Ghanaians are adopting the use of digital platforms for business transactions, few have taken the pain to educate themselves on cybercrime and cybersecurity issues.

Mr. Tabi commended the NCSC for working assiduously to intensify cybersecurity awareness among the public and urged further collaboration with other institutions in the region including the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department (ISD).

He further called on the NCSC to extend the training opportunity to Police officers in the Districts stressing that the officers in the various rural areas deal with these criminal activities on daily basis.