Fraud And Forgery: Access Bank Surrendered ₦138M To Theft/Withdrawal

Access Bank battles with Cash Theft/suppression and Fraudulent Withdrawal/Transfer.

Brand News Day has reported that the release of The Financial Institutions Training Centre (FITC) on fraud and forgeries involved in reported cases of fraud and forgeries for the first quarter of the year 2021 is ₦11.697 Billion.

According to the report, Mobile fraud constituted the biggest threat to the banking sector in Nigeria as it accounted for 47.63 per cent of the actual loss of ₦726,439 million in the period under review.

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Following the category of fraud, below are percentages of each category:

• Fraudulent withdrawals – 19.73%
• Computer/web fraud – 15.25%
•  POS fraud – 6.82%
• Suppression of cash – 3.73%, and
•  Theft of cash – 2.05%

Others include:

• Armed robberies – 1.45%
• Forged cheques – 1.35%,
• ATM withdrawals – 0.77%
• Opening and operating fraudulent loans and accounts – 0.40% and
• Foreign exchange fraud – 0.05%

Fraud And Forgery: Access Bank Lost ₦138M To Theft/Withdrawal

There is no information yet concerning the details of the banks involved in the fraud and forgeries as reported. However, some conjectures can be made based on the financial reports of some banks for the year 2020.

Meanwhile, Access Bank did not record any loss from mobile fraud in the year 2021, the Bank’s actual loss due to fraud-related activities came from fraudulent transfers/withdrawals and cash theft/suppressioTheseese are the only categories responsible for all the fraud-related losses the Bank recorded in 2020.

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Fraudulent transfers/withdrawals accounted for ₦82,237,064 (59.52%) of the total loss of ₦138,170,244, and cash theft/suppression accounted for ₦55,933,180 (40.48%) of the loss. This is hardly surprising as the same trend is noticeable in the Bank’s report of fraud in their financial statement for the year 2019.

In the year 2019, fraudulent transfers/withdrawals accounted for the loss of ₦122,120,354 and cash theft/suppression (₦100,443,185) and both constituted 36.43% and 29.96%, respectively of the total loss of 335,202,748, for Access Bank.

The remaining 33.61% of the total loss was accounted for by cyber-attack (28.75%) and armed robbery (4.86%).

It will be heart-warming to see a further reduction in the losses of the Bank and others as we await the release of the report for the second quarter of the year as well as the Banks’ reports at the end of the year.

What is Access Bank plans to further reduce the Fraud and Forgery of the bank?

Are safety assured for customers’ valuables to further bank with the Nigerian bank?