Panic As Access Bank, FCMB, Others Lose ₦1.7 Billion To Fraudsters

Some Nigerian deposit money banks lost a total of N1.77bn to fraudulent activities involving the banks’ employees and consumers in 2021.

This was contained in the 2021 financial statements of the banks. The banks include Access Bank Plc, First Monument City Bank and Wema Bank etc.

According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System, NIBSS, a company responsible for interbank transactions in the country, "the increase in transaction processing, speed and available channels comes with an unavoidable side effect– more vectors for fraudulent activities."

The company revealed that fraud-related transactions cost Nigerian banks an average loss of N14bn yearly.

Financial statements reveal that WEMA incurred the biggest losses as a result of fraud within the period under review, as they lost N670.73 million. For Wema Bank, the cost of fraud rose by N27.46m, year on year, as the loss incurred in 2020 was N643.277m.

Access Bank lost N502m to fraud in 2021, third parties lost about N1.98bn. The bank revealed that it recorded a total of 17,697 cases of fraud in 2021, majorly comprising Electronic Fraud/USSD (17,911), Cash Theft/ Suppression/Pilferage/Dry posting (33), Fraudulent Transfer/Withdrawals/Reactivation of account (16), and Armed Robbery (6).

During the review period, FCMB’s losses as a result of fraud climbed from N59.03m to N89.8m.