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Ghana loses 166 million dollars due to cyber crime- Director of Cyber crime unit of Ghana police reveals

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Ghana lost 69 million dollars in 2017 due to cyber-crime and as at August 2018, the country lost 97 million dollars due to cyber-crime, figures from cyber security center reveal.

The country could lose more in the near future if proper steps are not taken to arrest the situation, the center said.

Globally, about 600 billion dollars was lost to criminals which is about 0.5 percent of the whole world Gross Domestic Products (GDP).

Dr Herbert Gustav Yankson, the director of the cyber-crime unit of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Ghana police service revealed this at the Tamale Senior high school at day one of the northern region’s turn of regional sensitization on cyber security.

Cyber-crime Dr Yankson said, is affecting Ghana’s economy and all efforts must be put in place to fight against the menace.
He blamed the worrying situation on Ghanaians not protecting themselves in online activities they engaged in on daily basis.

Addressing students of Tamale Senior High School( TAMASCO), Dr Yankson advised students of second cycle institutions to be careful with the type of friends they accept on social media, especially Facebook.

The gravity of the cyber-crime, he said, compelled the ministry of communication to embark on a regional sensitization awareness campaign among stakeholders and the youth in secondary schools.
The government, Dr Gustav explained, through the communications ministry is directly involved with the police also deeply involved.

He said the cyber security center will engage the youth because a lot of Ghanaian youth are engaged in online cyber fraud, adding that there  was the need to encourage people to embrace cyber hygiene practices.
The only to give the encouragement was to engage them and listen to their knowledge on the issue and how best to holistically address it.

According to Dr Gustav, two thirds of the cyber crime cases are related to fraud meaning a large part is based on deception and all efforts must be geared at avoiding deceit and when that is there, it can be reduced the number of cases by two-thirds for the government and the cyber security center.

He refuted claims that the security agencies are not up to the task when it comes to cyber crime adding that people must protect themselves because everyone browse at their various homes.

“With online issues nobody can help you, the only thing we can do is to help yourself because the police cannot be everywhere” he said.

He however, gave the assurance that, even though cyber crime is quite new there is ongoing capability building and cyber crime investigations are part of the curriculum at the detectives training school and the police training school.

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