By Ayo Kehinde
Banks and their customers lost a combined ₦134.48bn to fraud between 2020 and 2025, underscoring growing security challenges within Nigeria’s rapidly expanding digital payments ecosystem, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Data contained in the CBN’s Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 document showed that attempted fraud during the six-year period totalled ₦187.79bn, while actual losses amounted to ₦134.48bn.
The losses cut across several payment channels, including over-the-counter transactions, Automated Teller Machines, cheques, e-commerce platforms, Internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale terminals, web channels and other electronic payment platforms.
An analysis of the figures revealed a steady rise in fraud losses from ₦11.61bn in 2020 to ₦12.77bn in 2021 and ₦14.32bn in 2022.
Losses climbed further to ₦17.67bn in 2023 before surging to a record ₦52.26bn in 2024, accounting for nearly 39 percent of the total amount lost during the six-year period.
Attempted fraud also followed an upward trend, increasing from ₦13.26bn in 2020 to ₦14.48bn in 2021, ₦16.41bn in 2022 and ₦19.72bn in 2023 before jumping sharply to ₦86.36bn in 2024. However, both attempted fraud and actual losses declined in 2025 to ₦37.57bn and ₦25.85bn, respectively.
The apex bank attributed the sharp rise in losses recorded in 2024 largely to a major internal fraud case involving ₦30bn.
According to the report, fraud volumes across Internet banking, mobile and POS channels declined, but overall losses rose by 196 percent due to the single large-scale incident. Web fraud incidents also increased by 169 percent during the year.
The CBN noted that the trend highlighted how one major fraud event could significantly distort industry-wide loss figures despite improvements in several digital payment channels.
Despite the persistent threat, the regulator said fraud losses dropped by 51 percent in 2025, reflecting the impact of stricter regulations, stronger industry collaboration, enhanced monitoring systems and improved fraud-prevention measures across the financial sector.
The findings come amid rapid growth in electronic payments, fintech adoption and digital financial services across Nigeria, developments the CBN says require stronger cybersecurity frameworks, consumer protection measures and more robust fraud-monitoring systems.
