Nigerian banks experienced a massive loss of N42.6 billion to fraudulent activities between April and June 2024.
This was revealed in the latest Fraud and Forgeries report released by the Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), surpasses the total losses recorded in the entire year of 2023, when banks lost N9.4 billion.
The Q2 2024 loss marks an 8,993% increase compared to the N468.4 million lost in Q1 of this same year. The rise is even more troubling when viewed against Q2 2023, when N5.7 billion was lost, reflecting a 637% increase.
FITC noted that the majority of the losses came from ‘miscellaneous and other fraud’ types, which accounted for 96.46% of the total amount, which is N41.14 billion. Then losses from fraudulent withdrawals and computer/web fraud followed, which amounted to N781.2 million and N400.7 million, respectively.
As fraudsters continue to target the sector, Nigerian banks face increasing pressure to strengthen their security protocols and safeguard customer funds.
