Nigeria’s rapid shift towards electronic payments has come with a steep cost, as banks and their customers lost a combined N134.48 billion to fraud between 2020 and 2025.
This is according to data contained in the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 document.
The report showed that fraudsters attempted to steal a total of N187.79 billion during the six-year period, with actual losses amounting to N134.48 billion across the banking and payments ecosystem.
The losses were recorded through a range of electronic and traditional payment channels, including internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, e-commerce platforms, Automated Teller Machines, web-based transactions, over-the-counter services and cheques, underscoring the persistent security risks accompanying Nigeria’s expanding digital finance landscape.
An analysis of the data revealed a steady rise in fraud-related losses over the period. Losses increased from N11.61 billion in 2020 to N12.77 billion in 2021 and N14.32 billion in 2022. The figure climbed further to N17.67 billion in 2023 before surging to a record N52.26 billion in 2024.
According to the apex bank, the sharp increase recorded in 2024 occurred despite reductions in fraud amounts linked to internet banking, mobile banking and Point of Sale channels.
“Fraud amounts in Internet Banking, Mobile, and POS channels declined, yet overall losses rose by 196 per cent, primarily due to a major internal case involving N30 billion. Web fraud incidents also increased by 169 per cent,” the report stated.
The CBN noted that the development highlighted the outsized impact a single large-scale fraud incident could have on industry-wide loss figures, even when security measures were yielding positive results across several electronic payment channels.
The report also tracked changing fraud patterns across the digital payments ecosystem over the years.
In 2021, web-based fraud declined by 43 per cent, but total losses still rose as point-of-sale-related fraud incidents increased by 276 per cent. In 2022, overall fraud losses grew by 12 per cent, largely driven by major incidents involving corporate accounts, while ATM fraud jumped by more than 2,000 per cent despite declines across mobile banking, Point of Sale and web channels.
By 2023, e-commerce emerged as a major vulnerability within the electronic payments space. Fraud losses rose by 23 per cent during the year, driven largely by a spike in online shopping-related fraud cases.
“Fraud losses rose by 23 per cent, largely due to a spike in e-Commerce incidents, which escalated by 1,961 per cent. Mobile, POS, and Web channels recorded moderate increases,” the CBN said.
However, the report indicated that the industry made significant progress in 2025, as stronger controls and enhanced collaboration among financial institutions helped curb electronic payment fraud.
“In 2025, electronic payment fraud declined by 51 per cent, demonstrating the success of stricter regulations, increased industry cooperation, enhanced prevention strategies, and improved monitoring,” the document stated.
The apex bank added that it had worked closely with industry stakeholders to strengthen oversight, improve fraud monitoring systems and introduce collaborative safeguards aimed at reducing vulnerabilities across Nigeria’s increasingly digital payment ecosystem.