[CLSTR]
< Back to situations

Monitor this situation.

[SITUATION] · [QUIET] · [TECHNOLOGY]

4 clusters · 11 sources · 54 days · First seen · Last updated

Cybersecurity extortion and rising digital fraud in SL/GH

Overview

Cybersecurity authorities in Sri Lanka and Ghana have issued warnings regarding the rise of social media extortion and the non-consensual sharing of intimate images. In Sri Lanka, the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (Sri Lanka CERT) warned of blackmailers using fake profiles to obtain compromising material for financial gain, urging citizens to report incidents to the Sri Lanka Police Cybercrime Division.

In Ghana, officials highlighted legal protections under the Cybersecurity Act, 2020 (Act 1038), and recommended tools like StopNCII.org to prevent the spread of intimate content. Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority (CSA) launched a public awareness campaign featuring a 292 hotline to report various cyber threats, including mobile money fraud and digital extortion. Victims are advised not to pay perpetrators and to preserve digital evidence such as screenshots and usernames.

Expanding its efforts, the CSA announced the 2026 National Cyber Security Awareness Month for October, themed ‘Securing Ghana’s Digital Finance Ecosystem: Building Trust Through Collaboration and Cyber Resilience’. This follows reports from CSA Director-General Divine Selase Agbeti regarding a significant surge in digital crime. Fraud cases across banks and payment service providers rose from 16,733 in 2024 to 24,778 in 2025, representing a 48% increase. Between January and July 2026, 3,876 cybersecurity incidents were recorded in Ghana, with online fraud accounting for approximately 47% of those cases.

During the launch of the awareness month in October 2026, Agbeti warned that the nation’s expanding digital economy and increasing reliance on mobile banking and online commerce have made cybersecurity a critical issue for both economic and national security. He emphasized that cyber incidents threaten public confidence in financial inclusion systems and that cybersecurity must be treated as a broad economic concern rather than a strictly technical one.

Entities

Cyber Security Authority · Ghana · Ghana Police Service · Divine Selase Agbeti · Alex Awere-Kyere

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Timeline

  1. [TECHNOLOGY] 3 sources
    Ghana faces growing cybersecurity risks in digital economy

    Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority warns that rising cyber fraud and digital threats pose significant risks to the nation’s digital economy and consumer confidence in financial services.

  2. [TECHNOLOGY] 4 sources
    Ghana launches cybersecurity awareness month amid rising digital fraud

    Ghana's Cyber Security Authority has launched a month-long awareness campaign to combat a surge in digital fraud, noting a 48% increase in reported financial sector fraud cases between 2024 and 2025.

  3. [TECHNOLOGY] 2 sources
    Ghana Cyber Security Authority launches 292 hotline for fraud reporting

    Ghana’s Cyber Security Authority urges the public to report mobile money fraud and digital blackmail via its 292 hotline, warning that stolen funds are often unrecoverable.

  4. [TECHNOLOGY] 3 sources
    Cybersecurity authorities warn of rising social media extortion

    Cybersecurity authorities in Sri Lanka and Ghana are warning against rising social media extortion and sextortion, promoting reporting and tools like StopNCII.org to combat digital blackmail.

Sources

africanheritagemagazine.de · gbcghanaonline.com · ghanaiantimes.com.gh · i95rocks.com · jbklutse.com · lankanewspapers.com · pulse.com.gh · thefutureofthings.com · theghanareport.com · thehighstreetjournal.com · thevoicenewsmagazine.com

This summary has been updated 2 times: see revision history