ACCESS Bank has lost N5.46 billion to fraudsters and forgers in the first six months of 2023. This represents 355 percent increase from N1.2 billion lost to fraudsters and forgers in the corresponding period of 2022.

The lender could also pay N29.061 billion to customers who lost money in various circumstances from their accounts, Economy Post has found.

Access Bank said in its half-year financial statement that it lost N5.459 billion to fraudulent transfers, withdrawals, and reactivation of accounts. It also lost N4.532 million to cash theft, suppression, pilferage and dry posting.

“The actual loss that was incurred by the Bank for the period is N5.46Bn (June 2022: N1.2bn). The rest of the loss amount represents the losses incurred by other third parties,” the Tier-1 bank said.

N29.061bn loss could happen

Meanwhile, the financial institution could lose N29.061 billion to 53,694 unresolved complaints from naira-using customers whose money was lost while in Access Bank custody.

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The amount claimed by customers by June 2023 was far higher than N14.868 million demanded by customers in the corresponding period of 2022.

Similarly, the number of unresolved customer complaints (naira customers) represents a 814.091 percent increase from 5,874 complaints received by the lender in the first six months of 2022.

Access Bank could also lose $76.412 million to 379 customers who carried out dollar transactions with the back’s portal This is particularly worrisome as only $1.434 million was claimed by 244 customers in the corresponding period of 2022.

In the first six months of 2022, there was no unresolved complaint from customers who carried out British pounds transactions. However, the situation changed in the first six months of 2023 when 5 customer complaints were unresolved, with actual claims totalling £2.852 million.

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“We diligently track complaint information for continuous improvement of our processes and services. An independent review of the root cause of complaints made is carried out and lessons learnt are fed back to the relevant business units to avoid future repetition,” the lender said.

Fraud rising in Nigeria

Cases of fraud and forgeries are rising in Africa’s most populous nation.

A recent study by Surfshark, an Amsterdam-based cybersecurity firm, showed that Nigeria was the 32nd most breached nation in the first quarter of 2023, as reported by Techcabal.

The report noted that Nigeria recorded 82,000 leaked accounts between January and March 2023, representing a 64 percent jump from the result of the previous quarter.

A US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 2020 report had ranked Nigeria as the 16th nation most affected by internet crimes. The report said Nigeria received 443 complaints relating to internet crimes in 2020, The Cable reported.

Fraudsters attacking Access Bank

Like other lenders, Access Bank spends huge amounts of money on IT, including a N1.139 billion on IT tax in the half year of 2023. However, fraudsters are beating IT security systems across the banks to steal depositors’ funds.

Between 2016 to 2020, Access Bank lost N871.4 million to fraudulent transfer/withdrawal transactions, including transactions on its electronic channels, The ICIR reported.

Access Bank lost N86.9 million to fraudsters in 2016, but thus dropped to N78 million in 2017. In 2018, it rose to N385.7.

Between 2019 and 2020, there were  17,432 attempts to breach Access Bank’s electronic channels via USSD codes and ATM cards.

Strengthen your IT systems, experts advise

Financial and IT experts have advised banks to improve their systems to beat fraudsters,

“To successfully combat fraud, banks must beat cybercriminals at their own game, which requires making advanced technology part of their first line of defense,” said Hitach Solutions, a global Microsoft integrator, while advising banks to use artificial intelligence, biometric authentication, multi-factor authentication, and advanced analystics.

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It also counselled banks to monitor transactions in real time, create database of known threats, educate banking customers, while hosting regular awareness training for the staff members.

A Lagos-based IT expert, Mr Tobe Iloani, stressed the need to develop several layers of IT security.

“There is a need for banks to use the multi-level approach. The use of AI is most critical now because fraudsters are innovating. Banks across the world use machine learning, and Nigerian banks can adopt this approach.”

A former bank worker in Abuja, Ms Patience Gyan, said there was a need to change the staff in the IT departments regularly.

“Non-IT related frauds also happen. People steal others’ pin numbers or even smartly take their money while in the banking hall. So, this calls for vigilance among Nigerians. Do not believe every story you hear in the streets. Fraudsters are preying on people’s compassion and we should not give them that opportunity,” she added.

Access Bank did not respond

Head of Corporate Affairs at Access Bank, Mr Abdul Imoyo, did not respond to enquiries as to why there was this humongous fraud records and high number of unresolved customer complaints at the bank over the period. He also did not provide answers as to what the lender was doing to forestall recurrences.