Organised robbery groups targeting banks can spend days or weeks studying a branch, its cash movements, security arrangements and escape routes before attempting an attack, fraud prevention expertRichard Kumadoe has warned.

Kumadoe said criminals were increasingly conducting their own risk assessments, identifying weaknesses in and around financial institutions before deciding when and how to strike.

His comments followed a police operation in Labone, Accra, in which two suspected robbers were killed and another arrested after police said they foiled a planned attack on GCB Bank, Ecobank and Zenith Bank.

“The same risk assessment the police will do, they also do the same risk assessment,” Kumadoe said on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Friday (14 August).

He said suspected robbers could visit a bank more than once, conduct legitimate transactions or simply observe activity around the branch to understand its operations.

“They might have even transacted their business there to look at the operational nature of the particular bank they want to rob,” he said.

According to Kumadoe, criminals could study the movement of cash between branches, the timing of transactions and periods when banks were particularly vulnerable.

He said the movement of cash — including transfers at the beginning or end of the working day — could create opportunities for criminals who had successfully observed the routines.

“They scan the area, whether there are CCTV, who owns those CCTV, whether there are pubs or restaurants or other activities within the area,” he said.

Such observations could help criminals determine how to approach a target, what vehicles to use, where to position themselves and which escape routes might be available, he said.

Kumadoe also identified the possibility of information leakage from within financial institutions as a significant security concern.

He said disgruntled former or current employees could potentially provide information that could help criminal groups understand a bank’s internal operations.

“They look at cash movement, they look at environment, they look at exit route,” he said.

Kumadoe recalled his experience working in fraud prevention, saying banks could sometimes identify suspicious patterns in advance by monitoring transactions and activity around specific tellers or customers.

He said the same information that could help a bank prevent fraud could potentially become useful to criminals if it was compromised.

Social media and routine observations could also provide information about a bank’s environment, he said.

The fraud prevention expert stressed that criminals did not necessarily need access to confidential banking records to build a useful picture of a target.

Their observations of traffic, businesses, CCTV cameras, police presence, customer activity and the physical layout of an area could provide enough information to identify vulnerabilities, he said.

Kumadoe therefore urged banks to treat security as a continuous risk-management exercise rather than a one-off investment.

He said branches should regularly reassess their physical environment, access points, security procedures, cash-handling arrangements and relationships with law enforcement.

“Improve the physical security of the branch,” he said, citing access control, alarm systems, sensors, guard patrols and security around cash storage as areas that should be examined.

He said security assessments should also be followed up periodically to ensure that recommended measures remain operational and meet contemporary security standards.

Kumadoe said the Labone incident demonstrated that bank security was not limited to what happened inside a branch.

The surrounding environment, he said, could be equally important because criminals could use nearby businesses, roads and other facilities as part of their reconnaissance and escape plans.