A comparison of the Bank of Ghana’s full-year 2025 fraud data for the banking sector – released on July 8 – with the Ghana Association of Banks’ (GAB) fraud data for the first quarter of 2026 points to a worrying acceleration in both the frequency and sophistication of fraud.
The comparison reveals that fraud has continued to migrate away from traditional paper-based schemes towards digital payment channels, account takeover, impersonation and insider-assisted fraud.
Although cheque fraud and cash theft remain important, technology-enabled attacks now account for the largest share of incidents.
In the Bank of Ghana’s newly released 2025 Fraud Report, the total value at risk for fraud within the banking sub-sector was GH¢57 million, representing a 24 percent decline from the GH¢75 million recorded in 2024. Concurrently, the total number of reported fraud cases in the banking sector fell by 34 percent to 472 cases.
While the central bank’s high-level release highlights that the overall financial sector fraud was driven heavily by digital scams in the Payment Service Provider (PSP) sector, it explicitly identified the primary drivers within the traditional banking institutions
The Bank of Ghana’s 2025 Fraud Report showed that electronic payment fraud continued the trend established over recent years, with fraudsters increasingly exploiting internet banking, mobile applications, payment cards and account credentials rather than relying on conventional document forgery. The report also indicated that although some fraud categories accounted for relatively few incidents, they generated disproportionately large financial losses because they involved collusion by employees or corporate customers. These cases typically involved unauthorized transfers, manipulation of internal controls or compromise of high-value customer accounts.
The GAB’s first-quarter 2026 report suggests that these trends have intensified rather than eased. Banks reported continued growth in digital fraud incidents, particularly social engineering, account takeover, phishing, business email compromise, card fraud and unauthorized electronic transfers. The association notes that criminals are increasingly combining technical attacks with psychological manipulation of customers and bank staff, making detection more difficult.
Attempted fraud exposure was approximately GH¢14.05 million across 73 confirmed banking cases. Successful fraud value was GH¢12.05 million – because GH¢2 million was successfully blocked from a single wire transfer attempt – and consequently net losses amounted to GH¢11.05 million
GAB’s internal report for January to March 2026 highlights a definitive structural shift toward digital channels. Financial crime is moving rapidly away from traditional branch-based fraud to identity-driven and mobile-enabled exploits.
The specific fraud typologies and operational vulnerabilities identified during this first quarter include mobile money and linked-account exploits whereby criminals take advantage of victim who are often unaware their bank accounts have been connected to mobile wallets. Criminals compromise these links via PIN disclosures or device theft, immediately funneling bank deposits through the highly fragmented mobile money ecosystem to evade detection
But the highest single value at risk incident in the first quarter of 2026 was wire transfer fraud. A single, major attempted wire transfer fraud accounted for GH¢1.997 million of the sector’s total GH¢14.05 million exposure although this specific attack was successfully blocked by security protocols before the funds could be dissipated.
Despite the protection offered by the Ghana Card for Know-Your-Customer (KYC) compliance, fraudsters have adapted with synthetic identities. The report notes a rise in the use of forged or digitally altered identity documents. Criminals are successfully bypassing remote onboarding processes by using fake foundational data or hiring third-party agents to clear enhanced due diligence checks.
While lower in total case volume, internal staff fraud accounts for significantly higher loss values per incident. Staff-driven vulnerabilities include the unauthorized manipulation of dormant or inactive bank accounts. Fraudsters also engage in deleting or suppressing automated transaction alerts, overriding internal system controls, and colluding directly with external syndicates.
The GAB 1st quarter of 2026 report also notes that banks are continuing to fight persistent legacy fraud channels alongside these digital vectors. These include: ATM and POS skimming by overlaying fake keypads or card slots to capture customer PINs; cash suppression involving bank staff withholding or failing to book physical cash deposits and document forgery involving falsifying physical bank instruments or checks.
In response to these trends, the banking industry has launched a nationwide GAB Anti-Fraud Campaign to educate consumers on social engineering tactics.
One important difference between the two reports lies in the speed with which new fraud typologies emerge. The Bank of Ghana’s annual report necessarily captures fraud trends over a twelve-month period, while the GAB’s quarterly report reflects threats almost in real time. Consequently, the GAB report records several fraud patterns that were only beginning to appear during 2025, including more sophisticated impersonation attacks, coordinated phishing campaigns and greater exploitation of instant payment systems.
From a financial perspective, the Bank of Ghana’s report demonstrated that fraud values were concentrated in relatively few high-value incidents, whereas the GAB report indicates an increasing number of lower-value but more frequent attacks. This reflects the growing commercialization of cybercrime, where fraudsters seek to steal relatively small amounts from many victims rather than execute a handful of spectacular thefts. Such attacks are harder to detect because individual losses often fall below traditional fraud-monitoring thresholds.
Another notable comparison concerns insider involvement. The Bank of Ghana highlighted employee complicity as an important contributor to financial losses during 2025. Although insider-related cases represented a relatively small proportion of overall incidents, they accounted for a disproportionately large share of the value at risk because insiders possess privileged access to banking systems and customer information. The GAB report similarly emphasizes insider collusion as one of the banking industry’s highest-risk fraud categories, reinforcing the need for stronger staff screening, segregation of duties and continuous monitoring of privileged users.
Customer behaviour also features prominently in both reports. The Bank of Ghana has stressed the need for greater public awareness regarding disclosure of PINs, passwords and one-time passwords. The GAB report goes further, observing that fraudsters increasingly exploit customer trust through telephone calls, fake banking websites, fraudulent SMS messages and social media impersonation. These attacks often bypass technological controls by persuading customers themselves to authorize fraudulent transactions.
The regulatory response has likewise evolved. During 2025, the Bank of Ghana focused on strengthening fraud reporting requirements, cyber-security expectations and operational risk management across regulated institutions. By the first quarter of 2026, the industry response had become more operational, with member banks intensifying intelligence sharing through the Ghana Association of Banks while working more closely with the Cyber Security Authority, law enforcement agencies and payment system operators to identify emerging threats quickly.
Overall, the comparison suggests that Ghana’s banking industry is confronting a rapidly changing fraud landscape. While the underlying fraud typologies remain broadly similar to those identified by the Bank of Ghana during 2025, the first-quarter 2026 data indicate that digital fraud is becoming more frequent, more coordinated and increasingly customer-focused. Traditional fraud involving cheques and physical cash continues to decline as a proportion of total incidents, while cyber-enabled fraud, account compromise and social engineering have become the dominant risks. The industry’s increasing investment in fraud analytics, customer education, intelligence sharing and stronger authentication measures should improve resilience, but the GAB’s latest findings demonstrate that fraudsters are adapting just as quickly, requiring banks and regulators to maintain constant vigilance.
By: Toma Imirhe / businesspostonline
