In the first half of 2023, cyber fraud activities led to direct financial losses of $4.32 million (GH¢49.5m) in Ghana.
Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), Albert Antwi-Boasiako made this announcement at the Accra media launch for this year's National Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
The National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NSCAM) has been launched to raise awareness of digital security and empower people to protect their data from digital forms of crime because of the ever-evolving global digital trends.
Antwi-Boasiako pointed out that Ghana’s effort at ensuring a culture of digital safety was borne out of the country’s cyberculture and societal dimension derived from the cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model (CMM) that was commissioned by the Ministry of Communications and Digitalisation in January 2018.
He further explained that the reported cyber fraud activities represent only a fraction of the cases brought to the attention of government organisations.
Antwi-Boasiako mentioned that the CSA received 41,285 contacts from members of the public between October 2019 and July 2023 of complaints about cybercrime and other related activities.
Identity theft, online extortion, romance fraud, and shopping fraud accounted for 41% of the total.
He pointed out that recent statistics reveal that over 62 per cent (4.95 billion) of the global population now has access to the internet.
In Ghana, internet penetration has seen remarkable growth, surging from 2.31 million users in 2012 to 17 million users in 2022. This figure represents 53 per cent of the country's population. Among this figure, a significant portion consists of the younger generation.
He stressed the importance of intensifying efforts to educate young individuals about cybersecurity matters.