Alexander Afriyie Writes About Cyber Crimes In Ghana.
Cybercrime is a pressing issue in Ghana, with its scope and effects growing steadily. This book seeks to explore the challenges of cybercrime in Ghana and to provide valuable insights into the strategies needed to effectively combat it. The Ghana Chamber of Telecommunications has reported that in 2020 alone, 1,097 cases of cyber fraud were reported at the Cybercrime Unit of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), resulting in a huge loss of $19 Million.
In recent years, Ghana has unfortunately been a victim of large financial losses due to cybercrime. The country has reported significant amounts of money being lost to various forms of online fraud and other cybercriminal activities. In this explanation, we will delve into the details of how Ghana lost $35 million in 2016, $69 million in 2017, $98 million in 2018, $105 million in 2019, $77 million in 2020, an alarming $97 million in 2021 to fraudsters, Ghana lost $77 million dollars to fraudsters in 2022 and Ghana recorded US$105 million in 2023 on cybercrime as the year is left with three months to end.
With reports revealing the existence of over 4,000 flagged incidents under investigation as April 2021 approaches, this highlights a major issue facing Ghana today. The authors present an overview of Ghanaian laws regarding cybercrime and delve deep into the complexities of the issue, providing a comprehensive guide for understanding, preventing, and responding to cybercrimes both domestically and on an international level. The authors also discuss innovative solutions for protecting individuals, businesses, governments, and other organizations from digital threats. Combating Cybercrime in Ghana is a must-read for all stakeholders seeking effective tools to fight this menace that has become so pervasive in our society today.
The prosecution of cyber criminals is hindered by several obstacles, such as the difficulty in pinpointing where the crime was conducted, identifying the accountable party, and enforcing international laws. Moreover, many offenses leave no traceable evidence due to the geographical separation between victims and perpetrators. This complicates law enforcement’s ability to capture and conclusively prosecute those responsible. Furthermore, as advancements in technology create new avenues through which criminal activity can be conducted, current regulations may not be able to keep abreast with these developments. As such, it is frequently difficult for prosecutors to seek legal action against cyber criminals.
The difficulty of obtaining admissible legal evidence can be immense. In most cases, simply pinpointing someone’s identity and arresting them is not enough for a court of law; the proof must also be legally sound and valid to remain in court. Collecting indisputable evidence regarding cybercrime is an even bigger challenge, since logs or other forms of data collected often fail to stand up to scrutiny from defence lawyers, who often attempt to discredit the credibility of this data to defend their clients.
When a cybercriminal is arrested, there are often computer professionals and law enforcement officers working together to ensure the evidence being taken against them will stand up in court. Good evidence requires skill and knowledge. In this case, a lawyer may ask questions such as: How can we be sure that the log file has not been tampered with? Who had access to it? Is the timestamp accurate? Can IP addresses be faked? Was the log file originally saved on write-once media? What has been the chain of custody for this log file since it was created until now? What experience do members of the computer team have when gathering legal evidence? and so on. To avoid these complications, we need to protect ourselves from failing victims to this unfortunate circumstance.
