CBN: Nigerians May Lose Up to N6.1 Trillion to Electronic Fraud by 2021

Electronic fraud has always been a serious problem in Nigeria. Each year, millions of hard working Nigerians lose billions of naira to all sorts of fraudsters via multiple schemes. But the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it’s only going to get worse.

According Sunday Salam-Alada, Director, Consumer Protection Department at the CBN, electronic fraud is projected to reach N6.1 trillion within just 4 years. This represents a humongous increase from the N1.63 billion recorded in 2017 alone.

Electronic fraud cases in Nigeria saw a 28% increase from 2016 to 2017 and the sum of N1.63 billion reportedly lost last year, according to Nigeria’s financial services sector regulator, @cenbank, adding that it could hit a record N6.1 trillion by the year 2021, if not addressed.

— Techloy 💙💛 (@techloy) November 16, 2018

But Nigeria is not the only country at risk of further e-frauds, says the Bank. Internationally fraud cases are projected to increase as regulators and security agencies grapple with the rise of disruptive technologies in the finance world.

And with financial inclusion strategies continually increasing the reach of financial services, there’s also the possibility that they’ll be exposed to fraud too.

However, the CBN says it is putting in place several checks to reduce the risk of fraud in the future.

Dear @cenbank this fraudster just sent me a CBN Alert
CC: @MTNNG this number is a fraudster pic.twitter.com/0syd6uSs7d

— Dan-Borno (@DanBorno) November 16, 2018

Most importantly, Mr Salam-Alada, disclosed that the bank is close to releasing a consumer protection framework. He says the bank’s Consumer Protection Department will keep using financial literacy campaigns to help people avoid failing victims.

Additionally, the department has already handled about 13,715 fraud complaints. And Mr Salam-Alada revealed that in 2017, the Bank paid out about N72.2 billion to customers based on 25,043 reported cases. But he explained that this figure represented a 28% decrease over the previous year.