Banking sector records N9.5bn losses to electronic fraud in five years – CBN

The Central of Nigeria, CBN, says accumulated Electronic Fraud within the financial sector has led to a loss of N9.5 billion in 2023.

The Director of Payment Systems Management of CBN, Musa Jimoh disclosed this on Friday at the Third Quarter general meeting of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum, NeFF.

He said that between 2019 and 2023, losses to electronic fraud jumped from N3 billion to N9.5 billion in the space of Five years.

Jimoh, also the Chairman of NeFF, stated that if electronic fraud is not nipped in the bud, the menace will crash the country’s banking sector.

He harped on the need for banks, financial institutions and other operators in the industry to secure their operations in the digital environment.

“Today, we are here to continue that conversation to look at new strategies by which we can combat E-fraud. If we don’t combat cyber criminals, they will take us down and disrupt the entire system.

“For fraud trends over the last five years, in 2019, we’re looking at about N3 billion, and currently 2023, we are looking at about N9.5 billion. Fraud losses have increased dramatically over the last five years,” he said.