Fraudsters Attack 28 Banks, Steals N42.6 Billion Through PoS, ATM, Others

• Nigerian commercial banks lost N42.6 billion to fraud and forgeries between April and June of this year
• The sum lost in just the second quarter of 2024 exceeded the total amount lost to bank fraud in 2023
• "Miscellaneous and other fraud" types generated the largest loss, totalling N41.14 billion

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has over 3-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

A recent survey has shown that within the course of three months, from April to June of this year, Nigerian commercial banks lost a total of N42.6 billion to fraud and forgeries.

The total amount of money lost to bank fraud in 2023 was surpassed by the amount lost in just the second quarter of 2024. The banks lost N9.4 billion in total in 2023.

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In its Q2 2024 Fraud and Forgeries report, which was made public on Saturday, the Financial Institutions Training Center disclosed this and noted an increase in fraudulent activity on banking networks.

The FITC report is based on information obtained from 28 deposit money institutions around the nation about fraud and forgery instances.

An analysis of FITC's data revealed that, in comparison to the N468.4m lost in Q1 2024, the Q2 loss represents an 8,993% increase in loss. This is also a 637% rise over the N5.7 billion loss that was reported in the second quarter of 2023.

According to FITC in a Businessday report, the most significant loss was caused by "miscellaneous and other fraud" kinds, accounting for N41.14 billion, or 96.46% of the total amount lost.

Losses from fraudulent withdrawals and computer/web fraud, totaling almost N781.2 million and N400.7 million, respectively, came next.

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The research states that from Q1 to Q2 2024, there was a startling 1,784% increase in the total amount involved in fraud cases; in Q2, the figure increased from N2.9 billion to almost N56.3 billion.

Fraudulent operations were conducted through a number of channels in the second quarter of 2024, including point-of-sale terminals, bank branches, ATMs, and internet platforms like web and mobile banking.

Card fraud was one of the instruments that saw the biggest decline, falling by 47.66% from 21,469 in Q1 to 11,237 in Q2.

On the other hand, there was a 36.67% and 9.09% increase in fraudulent activity involving checks and cash, respectively. The number of instances involving checks grew from 30 in Q1 to 41 in Q2, while the number of cases involving cash increased from 209 in Q1 to 228 in Q2.

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Fraud losses of about N10.7 billion were reported in the Nigerian banking industry between 2023 and 2024.

Data from the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) disclosed that Nigerian banks recorded about 318 cases of staff collusion in fraud during the period under review.

Source: Legit.ng