Nigerian deposit money banks dismissed 49 staff members over fraudulent activities between April and June 2024, as revealed by the Financial Institutions Training Centre’s (FITC) Q2 2024 fraud report.
The report showed a significant rise in internal misconduct, with employee terminations increasing by 40% compared to 35 dismissals in Q1 2024. A total of 58 employees were implicated in 11,532 fraud cases, marking a 23% rise in insider involvement from the first quarter.
External fraud cases also surged by 5.20%, reaching 10,938 incidents in Q2. The financial impact of these frauds skyrocketed by over 900%, with banks losing N42.6 billion in Q2, compared to N468.4 million in Q1. This loss is 637% higher than the N5.7 billion recorded in Q2 2023, and exceeds the total losses of N9.4 billion for all of 2023.
The report attributed 96.46% of the total losses, or N41.14 billion, to “miscellaneous and other fraud types.” Fraudulent withdrawals and computer-based fraud caused losses of N781.2 million and N400.7 million, respectively.
In response, the FITC recommended that banks enhance fraud prevention by adopting technologies like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and role-based access control (RBAC), along with limiting access to sensitive files to properly vetted staff. Continuous fraud prevention training for employees was also emphasized.
