Primary targets are CBE customers
A drastic surge in mobile banking fraud is putting a record number of users at risk, the Federal Police Crime Investigation Bureau said.
In the last two months alone, there were 204 court cases involving mobile banking fraud, with the average figure reaching 22 a day, according to investigators working at the Bureau.
While the problem is becoming normal across the financial sector, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has become the main target of fraudsters, officials said.
“All of the cases that we have received in the last two months were from CBE,” said Berhanu Abate, Head of Economic Crime Investigation Department at the Bureau.
Berhanu urged bankers to pay a special attention to the issue, citing the case of victims who were affected by the crime. “There is a customer who has lost all of her salary in a day after her money was taken by fraudsters,” said Berhanu.
Last week, a discussion was held over the rising trend of fraud in the banking industry. Organized by the Ministry of Justice, the event was attended by Yinager Dessie, governor of the central bank, Gedion Timotheos, Minister of Justice, and presidents of commercial banks.
During the event, the Ministry disclosed that 1.8 billion birr was misappropriated by fraudsters from banks in the last four years. This is excluding what customer’s lost because of mobile banking fraud.
Abie Sano, president of CBE, which has lost almost a billion birr in the last four years, admitted that it is becoming a major threat to the banking industry.
He assured his bank has always been willing to pay customers who have lost their money because of fraud, no matter how long the process to recover the fund is.
“As long as the account holder is not involved, we immediately refund the money after discovering the money was lost through fraud,” said Abie, urging stakeholders to play their part in the fight against such illegal activities in the industry.
Yinager, on his part, said “fraud is a common problem throughout the world,” adding “It is also no different in Ethiopia. The worst is yet to come, considering what is happening throughout the world, where many fraud cases involve cybercrimes committed using modern technologies.”
“We have to hold accountable those involved in such activities to prevent crimes,” added Yinager.
