By Nchetachi Chukwuajah
Digital payment fraud in Nigeria decreased by 51 per cent to N25.85 billion in 2025, compared to N52.26 billion recorded in 2024.
This was disclosed by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Premier Oiwoh, on Wednesday, January 21, at the 2026 Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum Technical Kickoff Session held in Lagos State.
At the event with the theme, ‘Shrinking Fraud Losses with ISO 20022 & Identity Management,’ Oiwoh said industry fraud significantly reduced in the last five years.
According to him, the amount lost to digital fraud increased by 196 per cent in 2024 due to an incident involving one banking entity.
He said: “Looking at industry fraud over the past five years, the number of cases has declined significantly. While case counts are important, what matters more is the value.
“In 2023, actual losses stood at about N17.67 billion. In 2024, losses rose to N52.26 billion, largely driven by a single fraud incident of N31.1 billion involving one entity. In 2025, losses dropped significantly.”
The NIBSS also noted that the number of fraud counts had dropped over the past five years from 123,918 in 2021 to 101,669 in 2022 and 95,620 in 2023. The figures further declined in 2024 to 70,111 and recorded a four percent reduction to 67,518 in 2025.
On a geographical basis, the NIBSS noted that Lagos, which accounted for 63.43 per cent of the cases recorded in 2025, remains the epicentre of fraud-related activity, reflecting its role as Nigeria’s commercial hub.
Oiwoh said, “Abuja (Federal Capital Territory) (3.12 per cent) has also shown a significant rise in activity, while other states continue to feature.”
Other states with significant fraud volume in the year under review included Ogun, which accounted for 2.51 per cent, Rivers with 2.44 per cent, and Delta with 2.09 per cent.
An analysis by channel showed that fraud remains most prevalent in e-commerce and internet banking, followed by point of sale (PoS), mobile, and web platforms.
The NIBSS further disclosed that social engineering remained the most common fraud technique, adding that internal controls and industry collaborations must be prioritised to curb the issue.
It stated that fraud reporting declined by about 34 per cent in the last quarter of 2025, warning that non-reporting is unacceptable as it hampers fraud tracking and investigations.
According to Oiwoh, “The most common fraud technique remains social engineering. Within this category, insider abuse is the greatest threat we face. Insider involvement is high, and recent investigations have confirmed this. Services such as SIM swap fraud, account compromise, and phishing continue to evolve. Awareness remains critical, as many victims are still easily deceived.
“We must prioritise internal controls, monitor staff activities closely, and pursue consistent joint industry action. Trust among institutions is essential. Last year alone, coordinated actions saved about N20 billion that could have been lost.
“While some institutions reported zero incidents, non-reporting is unacceptable. Reporting enables tracking and investigation. In several cases investigated last year, individuals involved in fraud simply moved to other institutions because incidents were not reported.”
