ABSTRACT
The rapid evolution of information technology, the proliferation of computer and media devices and the rapid growth in the use of ICT and the Internet for organisational management has brought new forms of crimes and made financial crime to be easier to commit. This study focused on the use of information communication technology (ICT) to combat financial crime in Ghana. It is a case study of the Ghana Police Service Commercial Crime Unit. The study used the Adaptive Information Security Systems model to serve as the basis for the literature review. To achieve the aim of the study, the survey methodology was used to survey thirty eight (38) respondents from the Ghana Police Service Commercial Crime Unit.
The study revealed that the use of ICT among the personnel was very low. The study also found out that the Service does not have the necessary ICT facilities to combat financial crime. Besides, the knowledge of the personnel of the unit in the use of ICT is inadequate. Therefore, the high hopes of ICT utilization and its resultant outcome is not realised.
Based on the findings, the study recommend that the Ghana Police Service in general and the Commercial Crime Unit in particular need to be resourced with modern ICT facilities and training of the personnel to be able to fight ICT-based financial crime.
CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION
- STUDY
Information technology (IT) is playing a crucial role in contemporary society. It has transformed the whole world into a global village and changed global economy. Globalisation of world economies has greatly enhanced the values of information to business organisations and has offered new business opportunities (Singh, 2008).
Today, IT provides the communication and analytical power that organisations need for conducting trade and managing business at global level with much ease. To coordinate their worldwide network of suppliers, distributors and consumers, organisations have developed global information systems that can track orders, deliveries, and payments round the clock. This has been possible because of the development of ICT in its present form (Singh, 2008). In the broadest sense, information communication technology refers to both the hardware and software that are used to store, retrieve, and manipulate information.
Turban et al. (2011) contended that financial institutions are fast developing and producing millions of transactions daily stored in complex information systems. They further explained that efficient analysis of such large volumes of data is crucial for quick and real time decision-making. Product management, loss prevention and detection and suppression of fraud are also of concern to such financial institutions. With the current global issues of financial crimes, business stakeholders, law enforcement agencies and the government have also become more concerned with the security of business transactions and the far reaching repercussion of financial crimes on the image of the country in attracting foreign investment.
Financial crime is causing economies to lose huge amounts of money; The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (2005) has stated that $1.6 trillion ‘dirty’ dollars are floating around the global economy; the latest annual statistics from the UK’s National Fraud Authority show that more than £38 billion has been lost over the last 12 months due to fraud (Sourcingfocus.com, 2012). Consequently, these days, financial institutions tend to seek means for secured and efficient analysis of their data (Saunders and Cornett, 2008). Adopting Business Intelligence (BI) tools can provide technological and innovative support in such cases, especially in developing countries like Ghana (Petrini and Pozzebon, 2003).
