The Ugandan central bank’s accounts was breached by hackers, who reportedly took out 62 billion shillings ($17 million).
The finance ministry of Uganda confirmed in a media reports that hackers had gained access to the central bank’s networks and taken money, Reuters reported.
It however denied allegations that hackers took up to $17 million from the countryâs account.
According to a parliamentary report cited, the auditor general and the criminal investigations department are looking into the incident that occurred two weeks ago.
Until the inquiry is over, the police and central bank declined to comment.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the New Vision newspaper revealed that a Southeast Asian organization called “Waste” had stolen 62 billion shillings, or $17 million.
According to the Daily Monitor, the sum was 47.8 billion shillings, and the funds were transferred to accounts in the UK and Japan.
The Monitor said on Friday that although the burglars had already taken away some of the money but the UK officials froze almost $7 million. According to the report, the syndicate got $6 million in Japan.
TimesNow.com.ng reported that the most recent Fraud Risk Report from the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) has shown that between the first and third quarters of this year, Nigeria had a 50% increase in financial losses connected to fraud and a 100% increase in digital fraud incidences.
The survey claims that fraud instances have increased on all platforms and that the risks are further increased by the growth of digital transactions.
The increasing sophistication of identity theft, insider cooperation, and cyber fraud took a serious toll on Nigerian financial institutions.
Source: TimesNow.com.ng
