Customers Association Urges Banks To Combat e-fraud

The Bank Customers Association of Nigeria (BCAN) has advised banks to adopt urgent measures to combat fraudulent electronic cash withdrawals from citizens’ accounts in the nation.

BCAN President, Dr Uju Ogubunka, gave the advice yesterday in an interview with NAN in Lagos.
The advice came following the alert by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on new foreign airlines’ ticketing discount promos fraud.
Ogubunka, a financial expert, stated that to prevent fraudulent activities, banks must embrace continuous customer sensitisation while beefing up cybersecurity walls around their applications to make hacking impossible.
He also called for collaboration among banks, regulators, and financial services stakeholders toward averting fraud risks.
He noted that most customers were not properly briefed about bank apps, thereby increasing their gullibility to tricks adopted by fraudulent individuals.
He identified major causes of the increasing menace as ignorance and carelessness on the part of account holders, and a lack of compliance with regulatory guidelines on the part of banks.
Ogubunka explained that flouting regulatory guidelines usually opens banks to fraudsters, allowing them to hack into their systems and make withdrawals from customers’ accounts.
He warned customers against carelessly sharing vital information in the public domain, as well as leaving their devices, including phones and ATM cards, exposed to potential hackers.
Ogubunka said, “I have seen places where people drop their numbers and whatever instruments they are using, either their phone or their ATM card or whatever carelessly.
“When these things are handled carelessly, we don’t know who will come across them and decide to use them. Even some of these things have been manipulated from the web. So, customers need to be properly trained.
“If banks don’t create that kind of awareness, then they are also exposing customers to making
The BCAN boss also called for the development of local apps in the country, tailored to meet the peculiarities of challenges in the nation’s financial environment, to reduce hacks”.
NIBSS reported a surge in fraud, with financial institutions in Nigeria losing N52.26 billion to fraud in 2024.
The report identified those within the age bracket of 40 and above as prime targets and were perceived to have already succeeded in various fields and endeavors.