The Financial Institutions Training Centre, FITC, a not-for-profit professional organization has revealed that bank customers in Nigeria lost N1.17 billion to fraud in Q2 2022.
Although the FITC data showed a decline in the number of fraud cases across 24 commercial banks compared to Q1, 2022, N1.17 billion was lost out of N8.78 billion involved in fraud cases in the period.
The report also revealed that 27,356 incidents of fraud and forgeries were reported in Q2, compared to 40,522 reported cases in the first quarter of 2022, representing a 32.49% decrease between the periods.
Furthermore, all reported fraud cases during the period decreased by 40.05% from N14.65 billion in Q1 2022 to N8.78 billion in Q2 2022. Also, the amount lost due to fraud incidents was slightly decrease by 23.66% from N1.54 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to N1.17 billion in the second quarter of 2022.
The FITC report also shows that mobile fraud which includes fraud activities through USSD transactions had the highest occurrence followed by computer/web fraud and POS fraud.
Highlighting the various channels where the frauds had been committed, FITC whose members are the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, and all licensed banks in Nigeria said:
“Evaluating the total amount lost to frauds in Q2 2022 reveals that Mobile Fraud accounts for 38.18% at N449 million loss, followed by Miscellaneous & other types of fraud accounting for 32.19% (N379 million) and Suppression of Entries at 11.02% (N129.64 million).
“A closer look at the unusual amount recorded under the Miscellaneous fraud revealed that the fraud was carried out via E-naira for which the banks were liable.
“With regards to the returns by payment channel, the analysis reveals that there was a decrease in the amount lost to fraud via the Web, ATM and POS channels.”
“The amount lost via the Web channel decreased considerably from N1.07 billion to N98.4 million while the amount lost via the ATM channel decreased from N43 million to N5.9 million.
“On the other hand, an increase was noted in the amount lost via the Bank Branch, Mobile fraud channels, from N103.45 million to N618.24 million (497.56%) and N270.92 million to N449.03 million (65.74),” FITC added in the report.
The FITC commended the banking institutions for the overall decrease witnessed in the fraud incidences, the amount involved, and the actual amount lost.
The Centre, however, urged the banks to further strengthen their internal control measures for improved efficiency in pre-empting fraud activities and ultimate prevention of fraud, adding that more measures be taken to support the internal control measures through increased sensitization of customers on the prevalence of fraud activities and how to protect themselves from it.
Alleluia is the Assistant Editor and Content Writer at LagosPost.ng. She is a prolific writer and editor, she has written features and news stories on Lifestyle, Sports, Business, Politics and B2B marketing. She is also an event coordinator, host and social media content creator.
