Cyber Fraud Affecting Botswana's Financial Sector

Overview

Botswana's financial sector faces a diverse range of cyber fraud threats. Understanding these threats is the first step in prevention and detection.

Major Fraud Categories

1. Account Takeover Fraud

Criminals gain control of a customer's account through:

• Stolen credentials (phishing, data breaches)
• SIM-swap attacks
• Malware on customer devices

Impact: Immediate financial loss; difficult to recover funds once transferred

2. Authorised Push Payment (APP) Fraud

Customers are tricked into authorising payments to fraudsters.

Types in Botswana:

• Romance scams — victim develops online relationship, then sends money
• Investment scams — fake high-return investment platforms
• Impersonation scams — criminal impersonates bank, police, or government
• Purchase scams — goods paid for but never delivered

Key challenge: Customer authorised the payment, making recovery difficult

3. Business Email Compromise (BEC)

Criminals compromise or impersonate business email accounts to redirect payments.

Common scenarios:

• CEO fraud — email appearing to be from CEO requesting urgent