Nigeria’s financial sector suffers N52.26bn loss to fraud in 2024 — NIBSS report

Financial institutions in Nigeria lost N52.26 billion to fraud in 2024 according to the latest report by the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS).

This represents a significant increase of N34.59 billion compared to the N17.67 billion recorded in 2023.

The NIBSS Fraud Report documents fraud activities, whether attempted or successful, and related metrics identified by local financial institutions or agencies.

According to the latest report, the amount lost to fraud has increased by 196 percent over the past five years, in parallel with the growth of financial transactions in the digital payments sector.

Although the annual fraud count reported decreased by 31 percent, from 101,624 in 2020 to 70,111 in 2024, the amount lost to fraud grew by 350 percent, rising from N11.61 billion to N52.26 billion within the same period.

The report indicated that the ratio of total reported fraud value to the total value of transactions recorded over the last five years showed a decrease from 0.0053 per cent in 2020 to 0.0022 percent in 2023, followed by an increase to 0.0040 per cent in 2024.

The report also highlighted a 338 per cent increase in attempted fraud between 2023 and 2024, attributing this rise to system vulnerabilities at certain institutions. Compared to the previous quarter, fraud activity increased in 2024, with attempted amounts and actual losses rising significantly in Q2 and Q3 before declining in Q4.

In 2023, a total of 80,658 unique customers fell victim to fraud, which is 4 percent less than the 84,130 customers recorded in 2022.

NIBSS emphasised that this decline does not diminish the severity of the issue and urged the financial industry to remain vigilant, enhance security measures, and collaboratively address the persistent challenges posed by fraud..