Report details how bank customers lose N472m to fraudsters in three months

In Nigeria, bank clients lost N472 million to fraud in the first quarter of 2023, according to a FITC analysis.

Additionally, it was revealed that 12,553 fraud incidents in total were reported throughout this time.

This was according to the Q1 report that NRTC analysed from the FITC website.

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The Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, and all licenced banks in Nigeria are members of the Nigerian Banker’s Committee, which also includes FITC’s institutional members.

The data, however, showed a decline in losses compared to what was lost to fraudulent banking activities in Q4, 2022.

According to FITC, a total of N3.18bn was lost to fraudsters across banking platforms in Q4 2022, which meant that the losses declined by 85.13 per cent in Q1 2023.

The FITC data also showed that the total amount involved in fraud cases fell by 79.44 percent in Q1 2023 compared to Q4 2022, from N12.58 billion to N2.59 billion.

Additionally, there were 14.07% fewer recorded fraud instances overall in Q1 2023.

In comparison to the 14,609 cases documented in the previous quarter, a total of 12,553 cases were reported in the first quarter of this year.

Furthermore, it was highlighted that, in line with the pattern from the previous quarter, fraud was primarily committed via mobile, computer/web, and point-of-sale.

The report read, “For Q1 2023 under review, an analysis of the magnitude-based ranking of fraud categories shows that mobile fraud has the highest ranking which accounts for N1.1bn (42.72 per cent), and this is followed by the computer/web fraud category at N646m (24.99 per cent). This was followed by PoS fraud at N450m (17.41 per cent) and fraudulent withdrawals at N139m (5.36 per cent).”