The Central Bank of Nigeria in collaboration with the Nigerian Communications Commission is developing a legal framework that will enable banks and telecommunications companies to ban owners of any bank account or the Global System for Mobile Communications line traced to fraud.
The development followed the spate of electronic fraud involving (USSD banking) telephone lines and Internet banking transfers.
Officials of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, who made the disclosure on Friday, said regulators in the banking and telecommunications sectors were set to finalise work on the plan.
According to them, owners of any bank account or GSM line traced to any fraud case, especially electronic fraud, would be banned for life from operating any bank account or GSM in Nigeria.
The officials spoke in Kano during a workshop organised by the NDIC for financial journalists.
Speaking on the topic, ‘Cybercrime: Nature and Trends’’, the Chief Compliance Officer, Access Bank Plc, Mr. Pattison Boleigha, stated that the banking industry recorded 6, 212 fraud cases in the second quarter of 2017.
Quoting the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Industry Fraud Report, Boleigha said within the period, the actual loss count was 3, 211 while the actual loss value was put at N501m.
The attempted fraud value was N791m.
Boleigha, who was represented by Shola Akinnukawe, emphasised the need for more synergy among stakeholders in order combat fraud.
Quoting the NIBSS Industry Fraud Report, the Access Bank CCO said, “The Q2 2017 had a fraud volume of 6, 212 which depicts a 17 per cent increase when compared to Q1 2017 and Q2 2016, respectively.
Posted by Juliet Ekwebelam (Punch)
