The Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Commissioner of Police (COP) Lydia Yaako Donkor, has warned cybercriminals that attempts to conceal their identities online will not shield them from investigation and prosecution.
She said the Police Service, working with domestic and international partners, was strengthening its intelligence-led investigations, digital forensics and cybercrime capabilities to identify, disrupt and prosecute offenders.
“Anonymity does not mean immunity,” COP Donkor said at the media launch of the National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM) 2026.
Her remarks come as Ghana prepares to observe NCSAM from October 1 to 31 under the theme, “Securing Ghana’s Digital Finance Ecosystem: Building Trust Through Collaboration and Cyber Resilience.”
The month-long campaign, led by the Cyber Security Authority (CSA), is focused on raising awareness of cyber threats and promoting safer digital practices as digital financial services become increasingly integrated into everyday life.
The Director-General of the CSA, Divine Selase Agbeti, described the theme as “timely, deliberate and urgent”, noting that digital finance was now “woven into everyday life”.
COP Donkor said the growing reliance on digital platforms for financial transactions had also created opportunities for criminals to exploit individuals, businesses and financial institutions through increasingly sophisticated methods.
According to her, organised and sometimes transnational criminal networks were using social engineering, stolen identities, mule accounts, compromised devices, malicious links, fake businesses, cryptocurrency schemes, fraudulent investments and rapidly moving digital funds to perpetrate crimes.
She noted that the emergence of artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency had further changed the cybercrime landscape, giving criminals additional tools to enhance their operations.
Modern criminal investigations, she said, could no longer be separated from the digital environment, as vital evidence in cases ranging from fraud and extortion to kidnapping, child exploitation and organised crime could be found on digital devices and platforms.
“A mobile phone can be a crime scene. A wallet transaction can become a lead. An IP log can connect events and a social-media account can expose a wider network,” she said.
COP Donkor disclosed that the Ghana Police Service was reorganising and decentralising cybercrime investigators and experts across all Police Commands to strengthen its response to emerging threats.
She said specialised cyber investigations, 24/7 cyber intelligence, virtual-asset investigations and advanced digital forensics were being supported by the Digital Forensics Laboratory at the CID Headquarters.
She also highlighted recent operational successes, including a joint operation by the CSA and CID near Tema Community 25, which resulted in the arrest of 39 suspects and the seizure of several digital devices in an operation targeting a suspected cyber-fraud hub.
In a separate coordinated operation with INTERPOL, the CID arrested 68 suspects, seized 835 devices, identified 108 victims and traced more than US$450,000 in losses, with significant recovery of funds.
“These outcomes carry a simple message to offenders: cybercrime may be borderless, but criminals are not beyond reach,” she said.
COP Donkor called for faster reporting and information sharing among victims, financial institutions, telecommunications companies, technology service providers and law enforcement agencies.
She said the rapid movement of illicit funds meant that delays in reporting could result in the loss of critical evidence and make it more difficult to trace and recover stolen funds.
“We therefore need a ‘golden-hour culture’: report early; preserve evidence immediately; share actionable intelligence lawfully and quickly; identify destination accounts; take lawful steps to prevent the dissipation of suspected criminal proceeds; and begin coordinated investigation before the trail goes cold,” she said.
She urged banks and fintech companies to ensure that fraud detection went beyond blocking suspicious transactions and generated evidence that could support criminal investigations.
She also called on telecommunications companies and technology service providers to treat lawful requests from law enforcement agencies with urgency.
According to COP Donkor, law enforcement agencies must continue investing in digital forensics, virtual-asset investigations, malware analysis, open-source intelligence, financial investigations and artificial intelligence literacy.
She stressed that cybercrime often transcended national borders, with digital evidence and criminal infrastructure potentially located in different jurisdictions.
She therefore described inter-agency cooperation, lawful and timely information sharing, public-private partnerships and international mechanisms such as INTERPOL as “operational necessities” rather than ceremonial relationships.
The CID Director-General also emphasised the importance of public awareness in combating cybercrime, noting that technology alone could not prevent attacks where victims were manipulated into disclosing sensitive information.
“Strong encryption cannot protect a customer who is persuaded to disclose an OTP. A secure banking application cannot protect a company that accepts fraudulent payment instructions without independent verification,” she said.
She said cyber resilience must therefore combine technology, investigation, institutional controls and public awareness.
The CID reaffirmed its commitment to professional criminal investigation, digital forensics, cyber intelligence, capacity building and collaboration with the CSA, Bank of Ghana, financial institutions, telecommunications companies, technology platforms and other stakeholders.
COP Donkor said the objective was to ensure that Ghana’s digital transformation remained not only fast and innovative, but also safe and trusted.