Over 6000 BVNs Under Scrutiny for Fraudulent Transactions, Reveals CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revealed that more than 6000 Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) are placed under inspection for fraudulent transactions. 

CBN also mentioned that at least 11,871 BVNs have been watch-listed as deceased individuals this year.

According to the CBN Director, Mr Dipo Fatokun, “the Bank Verification Number (BVN) recently introduced would be used to achieve this”.

Fatokun added that the BVN entails the collection of clients’ physiological or behavioural characteristics, such as fingerprints and signatures, among others, which are managed by the CBN and banks in cooperation with the NIBSS.

The most recent statistics show that 2.72 million more BVNs were enlisted during the first half of the year 2022, bringing the overall number to 54.65 million. This is from the approximately 148.4 million active client accounts across all Nigerian banks.

In the first half of 2022, Access Bank, GTB, and Fidelity Bank reported 26,877 fraud instances in the first half of 2022. This represented a 56.45% decline when compared to the 61,715 fraud instances that the banks reported from June to December 2021.

Access Bank had the most actual losses and attempted frauds during the first half of 2022 compared to other banks.

The apex bank reported that illegal transfers, transactions, and account reactivations on Access bank portals had the highest success rates, with losses valued at N9.48 billion even though the overall loss was N1.08 billion.

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