A 42-year-old man by the name Bachir Musa Aminou has been arrested by the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB) for being in possession of 656 ATM cards that are connected to nine (9) banks in Ghana and Nigeria.
The suspect, who is claimed to be a Nigerian, hid the cards in a plastic container, also containing kola nuts that were to be taken to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Ghana.
Bachir was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport on September 12, 2021, whiles going through departure formalities to enable him to travel to Dubai.
Upon interrogation, Aminou indicated to security personnel that he collected 132 of the cards from his family for his business while the rest belongs to his business partners in Dubai.
THE 2020 BANKING INDUSTRY FRAUD REPORT.
According to the Bank of Ghana’s 2020 Banking Industry Fraud Report, 2020 recorded a marginal increase in reported fraud incidents with a minimal decrease in losses.
The reduction in losses was mainly due to a reduction in the rate of success for most fraud types. A total case count of 2,670 cases was recorded in the year 2020, as compared to 2,311 cases in 2019.
The Reported value of fraud for 2020 was GH¢1.0 billion, as compared to GH¢115.51million recorded in 2019.
The notable increase in the value reported was as a result of high values recorded in attempted correspondent banking fraud (forgery of SWIFT advice).
Even though the banking sector did not suffer any losses from any of the correspondent banking fraud attempts, it posed a reputational risk to some banks, whose staff were found culpable in two of the three reported incidents.
Losses incurred as a result of fraud for 2020 stands at GH¢25.40 million, as compared to an estimated loss of GH¢33.44 million in 2019, representing a 24.0% decrease.
The suspect also had $12,000 and various pins of some of the ATM cards.
Meanwhile, the cards will be submitted to the Bank of Ghana (BoG) today, September 20, 2021, for further investigations.
Source: Dennislaw
