The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC), in a comprehensive review, said that there has been a significant decrease in fraud and forgery cases in Q1 2023 compared to the previous quarter.
However, the data showed an alarming increase in staff involvement in these fraudulent activities.
The FITC report indicated a total of 12,553 fraud cases in Q1 2023, a 14.07% decrease from the 14,609 cases recorded in the previous quarter.
Mobile fraud, computer/web fraud, and Point of Sale (POS)-related fraud were reported as the top three types of fraudulent activities, aligning with the trend from the preceding quarter.
In terms of monetary value, there was a substantial decrease of 79.44% in the total amount involved in fraud cases compared to the last quarter, from N12.58 billion to N2.59 billion.
The total amount lost to fraud also plunged by 85.13%, from N3.18 billion in Q4 2022 to N472 million in Q1 2023.
However, staff involvement in these fraud cases showed a worrying increase. The report identified 72 cases of employee involvement in fraud in Q1 2023, an increase of 89.47% from 38 cases in Q4 2022.
In a breakdown of the types of fraud by the amount involved, Mobile Fraud ranked highest, accounting for N1.1 billion (42.72% of the total), followed by Computer/Web fraud at N646 million (24.99%), POS Fraud at N450 million (17.41%), and fraudulent withdrawals at N139 million (5.36%).
In terms of the total amount lost to fraud in Q1 2023, mobile fraud accounted for 34.07% at N161 million, followed by computer/web fraud at N130 million (27.69%), and fraudulent withdrawals accounting for 24.72% at N116 million.
FITC’s report also evaluated the channels and instruments used in these fraudulent activities, including ATMs, web and mobile banking platforms, bank branches, and POS terminals.
Despite a decrease in fraud across almost all channels, POS fraud saw an increase of 19.51%, with 1985 cases reported in Q1 2023, up from 1661 in the previous quarter.
When it came to the instruments of fraud, cash and cards topped the list, with cheques seeing less usage in fraudulent activities.
Looking at the amount involved in frauds, Mobile and POS fraud amounts saw an increase, with Mobile fraud jumping by 17.85% from N938 million to N1.1 billion, and POS fraud rising by 86.73% from N241 million to N450 million.
In contrast, there was a substantial decrease in the amount involved in Computer/web, ATM and bank branch frauds, with Computer/web fraud recording a significant drop of 96.90% from N10.6 billion to N646 million.
The amount lost due to fraud in the ATM and Bank Branch channels saw an increase, with the ATM channel showing a significant 68.51% increase from N949 million to N1.6 billion, while bank branch losses grew by 43.86% from 119.95 million to N172.56 million.
Further analysis revealed a decrease in the number of cases across all instruments of transactions.
Cash fraud decreased by 7.28% to 140 from 151 cases, card fraud decreased from 11,566 cases to 9,817 cases (15.12%), and cheque fraud saw a drop of 60.87% from 29 cases to just 9 cases.
However, the employment of 15 employees was terminated due to their involvement in fraudulent activities, a decrease of 25% from Q4 2022.
While the FITC report suggests a positive overall decline in fraud cases and amounts involved, the increasing trend in staff involvement and the rising number of POS-related fraud cases indicate areas that need further attention and stronger preventive measures.