OVER E15.8 million has been lost to cybercrime in just a year.
This is money stolen from citizens who reported cyber-related cases from September 1, 2024, up-to September 30.
The statistics were revealed by National Commissioner of Police (NatCom) Manoma Vusi Masango through Deputy National Commissioner Mumcy Dlamini during the official launch of Eswatini’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month at Happy Valley Hotel. The event, which was hosted by the Eswatini Communications Commission (ESCCOM), was graced by Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini.
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This year’s campaign is themed ‘Secure Eswatini-Be Safe Online.’
The NatCom said the annual campaign presented an opportunity for all stakeholders involved in the fight against cybercrime and its underlying effects to sensitise the public who might fall prey to fraud and financial crimes’ schemes and syndicates.
Masango said in the period under review, there were 1 176 cases of fake ewallet, send-money messages and Mobile Money fraud where victims were enticed to disclose their personal identification numbers (PINs) to unknown callers who devised various tactics to induce submission.
He said E7 322 183 was lost through such, widely known as ‘facata’ scams, indicating a 57.9% increase from the previous year.
Additionally, the NatCom said there were seven reported cases involving fraudulent emails recorded purporting to notify companies on change of banking details.
The amount lost in these cases, according to Masango, amounted to E2 715 116. He added that another 77 cases of online advertisements of goods that were never delivered had a monetary loss of E1 705 835 that was paid by unsuspecting customers through electronic funds transfer (EFT) during the period under review. “The banking sector was not exempted as 19 cases of breaches and funds fraudulently credited to different bank accounts were reported, amounting to E105 937,” said Masango.
Another two cases where the service provider system hacked, resulting in airtime being stolen and unauthorised calls being made were recorded. The total loss incurred in this crime was E3 444 604. Meanwhile, he said there were 86 reported cases of ATM card and PIN thefts during the period under review, amounting to E422 825. The total amount lost in all the cyber-related cases is E15 987 357.
Masango said in a bid to mitigate the scourge of cybercrime, the REPS established a Task Team made up of six officers to focus on the investigation of the infamous ‘facata’ scams.
He said to date; the police had arrested 87 suspects, 76 of whom were males while 11 were women. The national commissioner added that 528 criminal dockets had been forwarded to the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) office.
Additionally, Masango said the police service had also established a fully equipped and functional Digital Forensic Unit within the Crime Detection Services department for the investigation of cybercrime.
He said this unit aided in the collection, preservation and retrieval of digital evidence. Furthermore, Masango said training the police on cybercrime investigation at basic level continued at the Police Academy as one of the REPS in-service courses which were best suited to equip officers with the basics of digital crime identification and investigation.
“We have also partnered with the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) in training our officers on cybercrime prosecution and electronic evidence collection and presentation, as well as enrolled 15 officers on online courses in darknet and crypto essentials,” stated Masango, adding that another four officers had been sent to Mombasa, Kenya, for further studies on Crypto Investigation Tool training.
He said the latter would come back and equip their colleagues with the newly-acquired skills and knowledge on cyber investigation.
Masango emphasised the importance of strengthening strategic partnerships and engaging in awareness campaigns.
“As the polices service, we reiterate our dedication and commitment in tackling cybercrime through collaboration with each and every stakeholder present here in this noble gathering as well as our international partners,” said Masango.
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