Here’s how much Ghana has lost to cybercrime as at August 2018

A Deputy Finance Minister Kwaku Kwarteng has revealed that Ghana has lost $97m as of August 2018 to cybercrime.

Speaking at the Ghana Club 100 Awards, Mr Kwarteng said that the country’s loss to cybercrime keeps increasing which is worrying.

Ghana lost 25milllion dollars in 2016 increasing to some 69 million dollars in 2017.

“Last year we lost $69 million to cyber criminals and this year as at August, we lost $97 million so it is very worrying and therefore there is the need for education to avoid this.”

Mr Kwarteng attributed the increased rate of cybercrime to the increase in electronic money transaction

The Deputy Minister said “with increased mobile money transactions across the country and various e-commerce platforms both nationally and internationally, it is essential to protect patrons from fraud.  To curb this canker, therefore, the government of Ghana has launched and will in 2019 introduce the cybersecurity fund to ensure that there is enough funding for safe ecological ecosystem.”

He said that to curb this situation the government of Ghana will launch a cyber-security fund in 2019 to ensure there is enough funds to fight the menace.

This follows the rolling out of the Cyber Security Guidelines for the financial sector by the Central Bank.

He promised that the  “government will continue to manage an economy that has recovered from government overspending and physical indiscipline, and the shocks associated with them as well as the financial sector unsoundness.”