How Nigerian banks were duped of N2.19 billion by fraudsters in 2016 - CBN

- Nigerian banks recorded 19, 531 fraud cases
in 2016

- Attempted fraud was valued at N4.36 billion

- Actual loss through counter transaction,
internet banking and ATM is N2.19 billion

The Nigerian Deposit Money Banks (DMB) lost a
whooping sum of N2.19 billion to fraudsters in 2016,
according to a report presented by the Central Bank
of Nigeria.

This report was given by the CBN governor, Mr
Godwin Emefiele, who presented the Nigeria
Electronic Fraud Forum Annual Report during the NEFF
stakeholders’ workshop on cybercrime.

The report stated that 19,531 fraud cases were
reported for the DMBs in 2016 as against 10,743 in
2015, Punch reports.

It stated that although there was an 82 per cent
increase in reported fraud cases as compared to
2015; the banking sector witnessed marginal
reduction in the value of attempted frauds and actual
losses.

The report stated that attempted frauds’ value
dropped from N4.37bn in 2015 to N4.36bn in 2016,
while actual loss value declined from N2.25bn to
N2.19bn.

A breakdown of the actual amount lost showed that
across the counter transactions accounted for the
highest with a total value of N511.07 million.

This was followed by Automated Teller Machine
transactions, with N464.5m; Internet banking,
N320.66m; Point-of-Sale transactions, N243.32m; and
mobile banking transactions, N235.17m.

Losses from e-commerce transactions were put at
N132.25m; web transactions, N83.77m; cheques,
N4.55m; kiosks, N10.19m; and others, N190.97m.

The report read in part: “Based on trend and human
perception, it is believed that fraud rates increase
towards the end of the year due to festivities
observed during this period and the need for people
to get more money.

“But the truth is fraud can occur anytime, hence the
need for us to always gear up our preventive and
detective strategies.”

Speaking on the theme of the workshop, Emefiele
said: “The protection of information infrastructure
utilised in the delivery of financial services is
considered critical all over the world.

"It was because of the importance of securing
infrastructure such as that of the financial sector, and
protecting the underlying services from cyberattacks
that the Cybercrime (Prohibition and Prevention) Act
was enacted in 2015.

“It is now about two years into the commencement
of the Act, and so it is not too early to conduct a
holistic review of its implementation.”

“Thus, your deliverables at this workshop should
include a careful examination of the extent to which
the obligations placed by the Act are fulfilled, and the
general assessment of any challenges experienced in
compliance with the provisions of the Act.


“It is our natural expectation that following such
careful and interesting review, this workshop would
have very little difficulty in proffering the much
needed solutions and making practical
recommendations for the effective implementation of
the Act from hereon."

Emefiele added that while CBN and banking operators
had made efforts to reduce the incidents of fraud and
ensure consumer confidence in the payment system,
the Cybercrime Act, if effectively enforced, would
serve as a deterrent and constant reminder to those
who might wish to engage in illicit activities targeting the financial technology infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has raised concern over the borrowing attitude of the federal government.

Newslanded gathered that while discussing at its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) second quarter
2017 meeting, the apex bank said the pace has
exceeded the target for the 2017 fiscal year.