CEM REPORT, FINANCE | Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC)’s report has revealed that Mobile, computer/web and Point of Sale (POS) related fraud are the top three channels for fraudulent activities in the first quarter of 2023 (Q1’23).
The report also highlights an 89.47 per cent increase in staff involvement having been involved in 72 cases from 38 cases in Q4’22.
On the overall, the (FITC) report says there was a decline of 14.07 per cent from 14,609 cases recorded in the previous quarter to 12,553 fraud cases in Q1’23.
the further analysis reveals that mobile fraud topped the list in terms of cash involved, accounting for ₦1.1 billion (42.72% of the total), followed by computer/web fraud at ₦646 million (24.99%), POS fraud at ₦450 million (17.41%), and fraudulent withdrawals at ₦139 million (5.36%).
Mobile fraud accounted for 34.07 per cent of the total amount lost to fraud in the Q1’23, with ₦161 million. Computer/web fraud came in second with ₦130 million (27.69%), while fraudulent withdrawals came in third with ₦116 million (24.72%).
The amounts of mobile and POS fraud increased, with mobile fraud jumping from ₦938 million to ₦1.1 billion an increase by 17.85 per cent while POS fraud rose from ₦241 million to ₦450 million an increase by 86.73 per cent.
POS fraud record a significant increased by 19.51 per cent in Q1’23, going from 1661 cases in Q4’22 to 1985 cases in Q1’23, despite a significant decline in fraud across other channels.
Mobile fraud increased by 17.85 per cent from ₦938 million to ₦1.1 billion and POS fraud increased by 86.73 per cent from N₦241 million to ₦450 million.
The amount engaged in computer/web, ATM, and bank branch frauds, however, significantly decreased. Computer/web fraud saw a decline of 96.90 per cent from ₦10.6 billion to ₦646 million.
The total amount lost to fraud also decreased by 85.13 per cent, from ₦3.18 billion in Q4 2022 to ₦472 million in Q1 2023.
Also, the total amount involved in fraud cases in the review quarter fell to 79.44 per cent from ₦12.58 billion to ₦2.59 billion in the review quarter.
The amount of money lost as a result of fraud increased in both the ATM and bank branch channels. The ATM channel experienced a notable increase of 68.51 per cent from ₦949 million to ₦1.6 billion, while bank branch losses increased by 43.86 per cent from ₦119.95 million to ₦172.56 million.
Furthermore, cash fraud declined by 7.28% from 151 cases to 140, card fraud decreased by 15.12% from 11,566 cases to 9,817 cases, and cheque fraud decreased by 60.87% from 29 cases to 9 cases.
Although this is a 25% decrease from Q4 2022, 15 employees’ jobs were terminated as a result of their engagement in fraudulent actions.
