How Access, GTCO, Fidelity Customers Lost N1.85bn To Fraudsters

The safety of customers’ funds in Nigerian banks is becoming a subject of concern as the Federal Government is craving for financial inclusion and a cashless policy.

Three banks lost a total of N1.85bn to fraud incidents between January to June 2021.

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Out of the total amount, customers lost N958.74m.

The investigation was done based on the information analysed from the financial statement of the banks mentioned as of the first half of the year.

Electronic fraud dominated the category through which most of the funds were lost.

The banks under the assessment are Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Holding and Fidelity Bank Plc.

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Access Bank is one of Nigeria’s tier-one bank’s with the biggest asset. The bank witnessed 9,310 attempts on customers’ funds by fraudsters and forgery attempts.

The attempted fraud on Access Bank accounts was worth N948.9m during the period with customers losing a total of N837.6m by June 2021.

“This report represents the fraud and forgery incidents that occurred during the period. It is a summation of attempted and successful fraud incidents. The actual loss that was incurred by the Bank for the period is N126.7m (June 2020: N82.768m).

“The rest of the loss amount represents the losses incurred by other third parties,” said Access Bank in its first half financial report.”

Guaranty Trust Bank Limited is a subsidiary of Guaranty Trust Holding Company PLC. The bank is another tier-one lender that recorded 6,622 fraud incidents between January to June 2021.

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The amount involved in the attempted fraud incidents was N564.85m

But findings by THE WHISTLER revealed that the actual amount lost by customers to fraud incidents in the first six months alone was N88,895,470.

GTCo’s case of loss to fraudsters worsened in 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 where actual amount lost to fraud was N38.36m

The bank also recorded $50,000 fraud and forgery incidents for its dollar currencies, but there was no actual loss recorded by the bank during the period.

Fidelity Bank Plc also had its share of 1,503 fraud incidents, according to data available to THE WHISTLER.

The amount involved in the fraud incidents for the six months period was N318.94m while the actual loss was N19.81m.

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For the bank’s dollar currencies, a total of 248 fraud incidents worth $30,000 was involved.

The bank recorded $30,000 (N12,432,000) actual loss during the period.

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