By Alfred Byenkya
In 2021, the National Information Technology Authority (NITA) said a total of Shs15b was lost through cyber fraud.
The fraud, according to NITA mostly targeted mobile money and bank operated internet transactions.
Recently, police arrested over 12 people that included Stanbic Bank, Uganda staff for allegedly withdrawing shs.6 billion from a customer’s account
Despite the measures put in place to prevent these crimes the police have continued to register these cases with the recent cases where people are losing their money due to fraud in the banking and mobile money systems
The 2022 crime report which was released by the Uganda Police Force on the,22, February,2023 showed that a total of 286 cases of Cybercrimes were reported to the Police in the period under review compared to 258 cases reported in 2021, giving a 10.8% increase in this crime category.
By the end of the year, 45 cases were taken to Court, 09 cases were not proceeded with while 232 cases are still under inquiry.
Out of the total cases taken to Court, 05 cases secured convictions, 01 case was dismissed while 39 cases are pending in Court.
Cybercrimes led to a loss of Sh 19,209,798,000 in 2022, out of which Sh 16,790,000 was recovered. Comparison of Cybercrimes from 2020 to 2022
There has been a general increase in cases of Cybercrimes from 256 cases reported to the Police in 2020 to 286 cases reported in 2022 as shown in Figure 58; Figure 58: Comparison of Cybercrimes from 2020 to 2022
According to the inspector General of Police Martin Okoth Ochola, the full opening of the economy after two years of lockdown in 2022 fueled more crimes in communities and in institutions because people were desperate to earn a living
He said the police is now focusing on improving the quality of services they offer to the public in terms of enhanced law and order, engagement of communities through community policing programmes and capacity building.
He added that they are in the process of digitalizing their services as one of the measures aimed at having a professionally managed force
