Crownprince
New member
Sahara Reporters had disclosed that about 6, 047 BVNs owned by Bank Customers have been added to the CBN' s surveillance over alleged links to fraudulent transactions. In the CBN Financial Stability report which was released in December 2022, a total of 11, 871 BVNs have been previously added to the watch list this year, 2022 alone before many were removed from surveillance until the recent discovery was made.
To determine compliance with the Regulatory Framework for BVN Watch- List for the Nigerian Banking Industry, the report revealed that the apex bank evaluated 28 banks as well as the Nigerian Interbank Settlement System and discovered out of the 6000 bank verification numbers linked to the fraud, thousands are linked to deceased people.
It stated that some breaches were discovered by the assessment and that consequently, regulatory actions were taken. There were 2. 72 million enrollments in the first half of this year and according to reports, increased the overall number of enrolled BVNs to 54. 65 million. According to the data, there were a total of 130. 57 million BVN- linked accounts out of 148. 46 million active accounts.
The report read in part, " Additionally, 2, 722, 518 BVNs were added, bringing the overall number of enrolled BVNs to 54, 651, 086, an increase of 5. 24 percent over the 51, 928, 568 enrolments at the end of December. Out of 148, 462, 947 active customer accounts, there were 130, 569, 656 accounts linked with BVNs, and there were 6, 047 and 11, 871 BVNs related to fraud and deceased people on watch lists, respectively" .
" According to the data, the overall number of BVNs on fraud watch lists increased by 13. 09% from 5, 347 in December 2021 to 6, 047 in December 2022. According to recent reports, four deposit money banks in Nigeria lost a combined N1. 77 billion due to fraud involving their customers and personnel" .
Reports also disclosed that banks under surveillance on this include, Access Bank Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, First Monument City Bank, and Wema Bank. According to their financial accounts, WEMA and GTB suffered losses of N670. 73 and N511. 9m, respectively, as a result of fraud during the review period.
For Wema Bank, the cost of fraud increased by N27. 46m annually, with a loss of N643. 277. The fraud losses in the instance of GTB nearly tripled in 2021. The bank' s losses as a result of fraud increased by N337. 5m from the N174. 40m recorded in 2020 to N511. 9m.
Additionally, GTB revealed that in 2021, it identified 15, 204 fraud and forgery instances totaling N1. 2 billion. According to Access Bank, while it lost N502 million to fraud in 2021, other people lost nearly N1. 98 billion.
The bank also reported that in 2021, it discovered a total of 17, 697 fraud incidents, most of which were electronic fraud and USSD (17, 911), cash theft/ suppression/ pilferage/dry posting (33), fraudulent transfer/withdrawals/reactivation of account (16), and armed robbery (6). The losses FCMB incurred as a result of fraud increased from N59. 03m to N89. 8m during the study period.
Watch this video
This article is published by Crownprince, and only represents the author's personal opinion.
