Banks and their customers lost a combined ₦134.48bn to fraud between 2020 and 2025, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Nigeria Payments System Vision 2028 document.
The report showed that attempted fraud during the six-year period totalled ₦187.79bn, while actual losses rose steadily from ₦11.61bn in 2020 to a peak of ₦52.26bn in 2024 before declining to ₦25.85bn in 2025.
The apex bank attributed the sharp increase in losses in 2024 largely to a major internal fraud case involving ₦30bn, despite reductions in fraud incidents across internet banking, mobile banking and Point of Sale channels.
Fraud patterns shifted over the years, with Point of Sale fraud surging by 276 per cent in 2021, ATM-related fraud rising by over 2,000 per cent in 2022, and e-commerce fraud cases increasing by 1,961 per cent in 2023.
However, the CBN noted that electronic payment fraud losses dropped by 51 per cent in 2025 due to stricter regulations, improved monitoring systems, enhanced prevention strategies and stronger collaboration among stakeholders in the financial sector.
CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said Nigeria’s payments ecosystem has become one of the most dynamic globally, driven by rapid growth in digital banking, fintech innovation and real-time payment systems.
Under the Payments System Vision 2028 framework, the CBN plans to strengthen cyber resilience, consumer protection and fraud detection mechanisms as digital transactions continue to expand across the country.
