ABUJA, June 19 – Banks and their customers lost a combined N134.48 billion ($98 million) to fraud between 2020 and 2025, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 document.
The report showed that fraudsters attempted to steal N187.79 billion during the six year period, with losses recorded across internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale (POS) terminals, ATMs, e commerce platforms, web channels, over the counter transactions and other payment channels.
Fraud losses increased steadily from N11.61 billion in 2020 to N17.67 billion in 2023 before jumping to N52.26 billion in 2024, the highest recorded during the period. The CBN said the sharp rise was mainly linked to a N30 billion internal fraud case, even though fraud on internet banking, mobile banking and POS platforms declined that year. Web fraud incidents, however, rose by 169 percent.
The trend changed in 2025, with attempted fraud falling to N37.57 billion from N86.36 billion in 2024, while actual losses dropped to N25.85 billion. According to the CBN, the improvement followed stricter regulations, stronger monitoring and better collaboration across the financial industry.
The report also showed that fraud patterns changed over the years. POS fraud rose sharply in 2021, ATM related fraud surged in 2022, while e commerce fraud recorded a major increase in 2023.
The findings come as Nigeria continues to see rapid growth in digital payments, mobile banking and fintech services.
Under its Payments System Vision 2028, the CBN said it will focus on improving security, strengthening cyber resilience, enhancing consumer protection and expanding cooperation across the payments ecosystem as digital transactions continue to grow.
