Fraudsters Hacks Into Bank Accounts

Although improvement in convenience banking is coming to Ghana, holders of ATM cards could be heading for misfortune as reports of fraud and hacking into customer accounts increase and permeate the good news.

In recent times, it is not unusual for people to queue up outside in front of the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs). Contrary to the way this would have been viewed some few years ago – as chaotic, the normal crowd usually seen inside Ghana's banking halls has gradually shifted to outside the banking premises. Basically the ATM, as a computerised telecommunications device, provides customers with easy access to financial services in a public space without the need for a human clerk or full-fledged retail banking office.

The Good News

The good news is that very soon all universal banks in the country will be connected to a single common switchboard. The new server in question, and its software, is just one of the numerous payment systems the Central Bank has designed to facilitate convenience banking in general. According to a source at the Bank of Ghana, the software has been demonstrated to all the commercial banks operating in the country and the regulator of the banking industry is waiting their feedback in order to kick start the programme's implementation.

The use of a common switch by all the universal banks indicates that customers can withdraw cash at all ATMs irrespective of the bank with which one saves and without the need for the Visa logo which is how cash withdrawals have been possible for those with foreign bank debit cards in the past. For instance, customers of Stanbic Bank would now be able to withdraw cash from ATMs belonging to Standard Chartered, Barclays, Ghana Commercial Bank or Zenith Bank Ghana Limited.

The move is expected to further ease the sufferings of customers who travel lengthy distances to withdraw cash. Among the payment systems which would be introduced alongside the common switch are the biometric smart card, the code line check truncation, and the automated clearing house system. The latter would easily reconcile electronic debits and credits among the various banks. Currently, there are just over 700 ATMs in Ghana and plans are underway to increase the size of the network.

The Negative Side

As global instability increases so does the number of unemployed. It has been widely proven that increases in joblessness also lead to increases in crime and fraud. The growing dependence on non-cash methods of purchase creates a niche for criminals who use methods such as card and cash trapping and skimming, among others to deprive citizens of their hard-earned funds.

Economy Times’ investigation shows that a scam email being circulated by dubious persons has successfully lured some ATM cardholders into losing huge sums of money. Nigeria's reputation for example has been soiled by the 419 craze. Indeed, at this stage, the concept of email scams is not foreign to the typical African and the majority of the population deletes such messages. However, swindlers have gotten smarter and are using the introduction of Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement System (GhIPSS) and the proliferation of bank cards as a seemingly legitimate way to get personal bank data. In a fresh campaign to defraud ATM cardholders, convincing scam emails are being sent to unsuspecting bank customers. An example of such a message reads: “This is to notify you that our services are being upgraded to a new, better and more secure system. You are now required to click here and register all your debit cards, x-change cards, and cash cards online immediately so as to enable your card to work on our new servers. Only registered cards will work with the ATM machines.

Note that in order to continue using your card for ATM transactions, you must register your card(s) online immediately by clicking here.

If you do not register your ATM card(s) immediately, you will no longer be able to use your cards with the ATM machines or for ATM transactions and your card(s) will be cancelled or terminated.

Adhere to this instruction on receiving this message and click here immediately to register your card. Our goal is to satisfy all our customers’ needs.” An innocent woman (name withheld) who confessed to clicking on the links as instructed above was recently at her local bank to lodge a complaint just as additional confirmation message of withdrawals from her account rang on her cell phone. “Many bank customers are losing money as Ghanaian banks intensify their campaign to decongest the banking hall through the use of ATM cards,” she said. A local retail banker, who pleaded anonymity, argued that most of the fraudsters hang around ATM machines and read customer PIN numbers as they are being entered into the machine, while others fall victim to the scam message concept and send in their PIN to counterfeit online banking agents.

The banker further told Economy Times that he has begun sending bulk email messages to his bank customers warning them against the ploy of scam artists. He did rest assured in his belief that no fraudster could hack into the new inter-switch system, but warned that ATM cardholders be vigilant in their activities. A source at UBA Ghana also agreed that scammers had no chance of hacking into the inter-switch system, adding rather that, “the affected customer might compromise his or her Personal Identification Number (PIN) to fraudsters who then use it to access his account.”

All over the world, the spate of international banking fraud has overwhelmed and challenged banks' security departments. This criminal syndicate works through an international network leading many corporations and financial institutions to send red alerts to their customers on a regular basis warning them of attempts at defrauding their accounts.

Fraudsters are taking undue advantage of online banking and internet-based shopping to defraud the business community and general population. Millions of dollars are reportedly lost by these means every year before banks and customers are even able to review their banking statements to question any discrepancies. In Nigeria, reports say complaints from bank customers have flooded the offices of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) daily over money lost by way of an ATM transaction. Most of the complaints, according to reports, border on mysterious withdrawals, undisbursed money recorded as debited from the account, incomplete transactions, and card seizures by the machines. Most Ghanaian banks as a consequence have been taking measures in the last few months to reconfirm for their customers that their banking data including information on their credit cards is secure.

In October last year, an ATM Security Training Programme was organized in Accra by GhIPSS in partnership with LiquidNexxus, a company who specialises in security, risk and payment card industry training.