Nigeria Loses ₦42 Billion to Rising Fraud Cases in Q2 2024, FITC Report Reveals

Written on 18/09/2024
The Nation Online

A new report from the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) has revealed a surge in fraud that cost Nigerians ₦42.6 billion between April and June 2024. The report highlighted fraudsters' increasing targeting of Point-of-Sale (POS) systems and mobile devices.

In total, 11,532 fraud cases were recorded in the second quarter, amounting to ₦56.3 billion, a significant rise from the ₦34.8 billion recorded in the first quarter. Financial institutions managed to recover ₦13.7 billion from the stolen funds.



The report showed mobile fraud was the most prevalent, responsible for 33.4 percent of the reported incidents, followed by POS-related fraud at 24.6 percent.

These forms of fraud, it underlined, include scams carried out through mobile apps and internet banking platforms.

Web-based fraud accounted for 16.9 percent of the cases, underlining the growing sophistication of cybercriminals.

The FITC report also noted that most losses occurred at the bank branch level, where 95 percent of the total fraud value, approximately ₦54 billion, was recorded.

According to FITC, this points to a troubling increase in insider involvement, with 49 employees dismissed for their role in these schemes during the quarter.

The report indicated fraudsters continue to exploit weaknesses in both modern and traditional systems despite advancements in digital security.

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