The Central Bank of Nigeria has placed at least 6,047 Bank Verification Numbers of bank clients on a watch list for fraudulent transactions, The PUNCH has learned. 11,871 BVNs have been added to the watch list this year, according to the study.
According to a recent investigation by The PUNCH, four deposit money banks in Nigeria lost a combined N1. 77 billion in 2021 due to fraud involving their customers and personnel. According to Access Bank, while it lost N502 million to fraud in 2021, other people lost nearly N1.98 billion.
The losses FCMB incurred as a result of fraud increased from N59.03m to N89. 8m during the study period. The PUNCH also revealed that in the first half of this year, Access Bank, GTB, and Fidelity Bank recorded 26,877 fraud incidents. He also disclosed that as electronic payments continued to gain traction, while fraudulent transactions in 2022 reduced by 35 per cent compared to last year.
