Cyber criminals who think technology and borders can keep them beyond the reach of law enforcement have been put on notice by the Cyber Security Authority (CSA).
Director-General of the CSA, Dr Divine Selase Agbeti, said Ghana was strengthening its ability to identify, investigate and disrupt cyber-enabled crime, working with law enforcement, intelligence, regulatory and international partners.
“Technology may allow criminals to cross borders. It does not place them beyond accountability,” Dr Agbeti said.
He delivered the warning at the opening of the 2026 National Cyber Security Awareness Month, which is being observed under the theme, “Securing Ghana’s Digital Finance Ecosystem: Building Trust Through Collaboration and Cyber Resilience.”
Digital finance, bigger risks
The warning comes as digital finance becomes deeply embedded in everyday economic activity.
Millions of Ghanaians now use mobile phones to send money, pay bills, buy goods, access banking services and conduct business. Banks, businesses and public services are also increasingly dependent on digital systems.
But that convenience has created more opportunities for criminals to exploit the same systems.
Dr Agbeti said the technology that allows a trader in Accra to receive payment instantly can also be used by a criminal to commit fraud.
Artificial intelligence is adding another dimension, giving criminals tools to create convincing impersonations, phishing messages and sophisticated social-engineering attacks.
“The future of finance is digital. Unfortunately, so is the future of financial crime,” he said.
The scale of the threat is already showing in the numbers. The CSA said 3,876 cybersecurity incidents were recorded between January and July 2026, of which 1,818, or about 47 per cent, involved online fraud.
Cybercrime threatens trust
Dr Agbeti said the implications of cybercrime now extend beyond stolen money and compromised accounts.
Cybersecurity, he said, could no longer be treated solely as an information technology issue. It had become an economic security and national security concern, as well as a matter of public trust.
“When a Ghanaian loses money to cyber fraud, we lose more than money. We lose confidence,” he said.
That loss of confidence can affect how willing people are to use digital financial services, with implications for financial inclusion, electronic commerce, innovation and Ghana’s wider digital transformation.
Collaboration at the centre
The theme for this year’s awareness month places collaboration at the centre of the response because criminals can move across different parts of the digital financial system, targeting banks, fintechs, telecommunications companies, merchants and individual users.
The CSA says no single institution can secure the digital ecosystem on its own and is calling for stronger cooperation, information-sharing and coordinated action among stakeholders.
For Dr Agbeti, the objective is ultimately to protect the confidence that is allowing digital finance to expand.
“There can be no sustainable digital economy without digital trust. And there can be no digital trust without cybersecurity,” he said.
But alongside the call for stronger protection of users and digital systems was a warning to those seeking to exploit them.
The CSA, he said, will continue working with its partners to track and disrupt cyber-enabled crime.
For criminals operating from behind screens or across borders, the message at the opening of the national awareness campaign was direct: cyberspace may give you distance, but it will not give you immunity.
