Mobile Phone Frauds Decline During Period
Fraudsters stole over N42 billion from 28 banks in Nigeria from April to June this year, according to a report by the Financial Institution Training Centre, FITC, at the weekend.
The report said the funds lost to fraudsters increased by an astronomical nearly 9,000 per cent from N9.4bn in the entire 2023 to N42bn in just those three months of this year.
The FITC report, which is based on reported cases from 28 financial institutions, indicated the 2024 second quarter Fraud and Forgeries report released on Saturday, highlighted a jump in fraudulent activities across banking platforms.
It said, “Eighty such returns were received in the quarter under review (26 reports were submitted in April), while 27 reports were received in both May and June”.
The report showed a steady rise in cases of fraud when compared to January to March (first quarter) where FITC’s data showed that the Q2 loss shows an 8,993 per cent increase in loss when compared with the N468.4m lost in Q1 2024.
“This also represents a 637 per cent increase when compared with the N5.7bn loss recorded in Q2 2023.”
FITC said ‘miscellaneous and other fraud’ types constituted the largest loss, representing 96.46 per cent of the total amount lost, with a value of N41.14bn.
This was followed by losses from fraudulent withdrawals and computer/web fraud, amounting to approximately N781.2m and N400.7m, respectively.
According to the report, there was a staggering 1,784 per cent increase in the total amount involved in fraud cases from Q1 to Q2 2024, with the sum escalating from N2.9bn to approximately N56.3bn in Q2.
During the second quarter of 2024, fraudulent activities were carried out through various channels, including ATMs, online platforms like web and mobile banking, bank branches, and point-of-sale terminals.
Among instruments used, card fraud recorded a significant decrease, declining by 47.66 per cent from 21,469 in Q1 to 11,237 in Q2.
The report indicates a significant increase in fraudulent activities involving cheques and cash in the second quarter of 2024. Key findings include:
- Cheque fraud cases rose by 36.67%.
- Cash-related fraud cases increased by 9.09%, with 228 incidents linked to ransom demands by bandits.
- Overall financial losses from fraud surged, except for mobile fraud, which saw a 59% decline.
- Bank branch-related fraud losses skyrocketed by 31,497%.
- Computer/web fraud grew by 1,560%.
The FITC recommends that banks enhance monitoring and auditing by using AI tools, conducting unannounced audits, and improving access controls to prevent unauthorized changes to settlement files.
Additional measures that FITC recommended include implementing multi-factor authentication and providing regular security training for authorized personnel.
