The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), a non-profit organization providing knowledge-based ICT solutions to clients in Nigeria’s and other African countries’ financial system, has reported that bank customers in Nigeria lost N1.17 billion to fraud in Q2 2022.
Based on the findings of its study on the banking sector, the organization reported that data from 24 commercial banks showed that the huge sum was lost out of the N8.78 billion involved in fraud cases during the quarter in review.
Even then, the FITC disclosed through the report that fraud cases across the covered banks declined when compared to the preceding quarter (Q1).
Specifically, the Centre reported that 27,356 incidents of frauds and forgeries were reported in Q2, representing a 32.49% decrease when compared to the 40,522 reported cases in Q1.
Also, it further hinted that the total sum involved in fraud cases during the period also deployed by 40.05% from N14.65 billion in Q1 2022 to N8.78 billion in Q2 2022.
The FITC added that there was a marginal decrease in the amount lost to fraudsters from the N1.54 billion recorded in Q1 2022 to N1.17 billion in the quarter under review, representing a 23.66% decline quarter-on-quarter.
A further analysis of the report’s findings on channels used for transactions by bank customers showed that mobile fraud, which includes fraudulent activities through USSD transactions, recorded the highest occurrence of incidents followed by computer/web fraud and POS fraud.
The FITC clarified: “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% (N129.64million).
“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”, it added.
