The volume of electronic payment transactions (e-transactions) in Nigeria rose by 50 percent last year, amid heightened cases of online fraud. With Nigeria pushing for wider national broadband coverage amid government’s failure to expidite action on the final passage of the cybercrime bill, the banking sector is being exposed to the exploits of hackers prowling the digital landscape, with no form of restriction. Nigeria Inter Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) disclosed, in its latest statistics, that 50 percent growth was recorded in the level of usage of various electronic payment transactions in the country in 2014. According to NIBSS, across all payment channels in the financial industry, including electronic and non-electronic based platform, Nigeria has experienced a massive rise in the volume and value of transactions processed yearly.
The electronic payments platforms include the Internet banking, e-Commerce, Point of Sales (PoS), Automated Teller Machines (ATM) and the mobile platforms. NIBSS, in its ‘2014 E-Payment Fraud Landscape in Nigeria showed that in 2014, it processed over 100 million transactions in terms of volume with a corresponding value of over N40 trillion (over $208 billion).
It also disclosed that the volume of transactions grew by over 50 per cent between 2013 and 2014 with its value also growing by 28 percent. Meanwhile, the National Central Switch (NCS) said fraud in the Nigerian payments system and also on a global scale has been on the increase over the past few years as technological advances impact on the way people pay.
According to NIBSS, Internet banking, the ever-increasing use of the ATMs and other electronic platforms have in one way or the other accelerated the growth of fraudulent activities, adding that cheques and over-the-counter fraud has given more room to a sophisticated and more concise electronic type of fraud. In Nigeria, it disclosed that Internet banking and ATM were the lead channels for perpetuating e-fraud in 2014.Specifically, NIBSS disclosed that in 2014, Nigeria recorded 1,461 cases of fraud compared to 822 in 2013.
It explained that from the 1,461 cases, the value of attempted fraud reported was N7, 750, 152, 748, while the actual loss was N6, 215, 987, 323 in 2014 compared to N19, 148, 787, 069 attempts and N485, 194, 350 actual loss value reported in 2013. The figures depict that more fraud occurred in 2014 and more loss was recorded in terms of value compared to the attempted fraud value”, the document stated.
NIBSS disclosed that in 2014, ATM machines were the major victims of fraudulent activities in terms of volume as it experienced the highest number of fraudulent transactions. It however, said that Internet banking actually accounted for a loss of about N3.2 billion to fraudulent transactions in terms of value. “As for 2013, there were quite substantial amount fraudulent transactions in terms of volume on Internet banking and Web based transactions. Also, Across the Counter accounted for almost N16 billion of the attempted fraud, which is the bulk of fraud witnessed in 2013”, the document disclosed. According to NIBSS, electronic platforms such as Internet Banking had 287 volume of fraud for 2014; ecommerce 114; Point of Sales 166; Web 218; ATM 491, Mobile 21.
Non-electronic platforms including Across Counter and Cheques recorded 153 and 11 volume of transactions. NIBSS, while giving more insight into the menace, explained that in the first quarter of 2014, the country recorded 336 volume of fraud, whose attempted value was N1, 003, 124, 742 with an actual loss of N172, 920, 263, which was 17 per cent actual loss value in attempted fraud value. In the second quarter, 298 volume was recorded, with and attempted value of N523, 849, 238 and actual loss value of N441, 714, 718 and 84 per cent actual loss value in attempted fraud value. For the third quarter, there were 366 fraud cases, N3, 708, 992, 359 attempted value and N3, 170, 221, 230 actual loss value and 85 per cent actual loss value in attempted fraud value.
For the last quarter of 2014, the figure increased to 461, with an attempted value put at N2, 514, 186, 408 and actual loss value of N2, 431, 131, 110, resulting in 97 per cent actual loss vale in attempted fraud value. NIBSS informed that in the year under review, as part of the investigation process, a number of suspects and criminals were apprehended after fraud had been reported. “Although, the figures show that more work needs to be done to improve apprehension rate. However, the low number is due to some constraints like the law/legal context that isn’t clearly defined when it comes to financial and cyber-crimes carried out using electronic platforms. A major issue is the collaboration of the law enforcement agents and the financial industry”, it stated. In the document, NIBSS said 2014 was quite alarming in terms of fraud as it recorded very high volume and value of fraudulent transactions in Nigeria.
TD, EMC in pact to expand technology industry
Technology Distributions Limited (TD) has announced its appointment as EMC distributor in Nigeria. Technology Distributions joins EMC’s global Business Partner Programme to expand access to cutting-edge technology for various end-users through TD’s wide network of solution providers/resellers as well as its presence in major Nigerian cities and key African capitals.
Technology Distributions has earned accreditation as a local distributor and has forged a reputation for being the number one ICT (Information Communications Technology) distributor in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The company will provide new sales opportunities through its reach to new and existing resellers in Nigeria and will extend EMC’s next-level IT solutions to end-users in the current business environment.
As an authorised business partner, TD plans to offer storage hardware solutions to promote data backup and recovery to help enable and accelerate the journey to cloud computing for businesses all over the country and in the sub-region as a whole. These products and solutions will complement TD’s focus as the major driver of technological advancements and IT growth in Africa.“Becoming part of EMC’s Business Partner Program will allow us to key into our vision of being the leading driver of technological advancements and IT growth in Africa by leveraging on our efficient distribution network and by bringing EMC’s innovative solutions to the fore-front. Our synergy with EMC will afford more organisation the opportunity and capacity to harness the power of front line IT solutions and position their businesses for the future,” said Chioma Ekeh, chief executive at Technology Distributions.
“EMC is one of the world’s most successful storage and data management companies and will be an ideal fit for us in delivering high quality products. This partnership also cements our position as the foremost channel partner in Nigeria and reflects our continuing ambitions for the business.” “Having committed a significant amount of time in both training and accreditation, we are pleased to welcome Technology Distributions into the Business Partner Program,” said Travers Nicholas, general manager, EMC West Africa. “Along with providing added value to their customers, TD will now benefit from the associated benefits of this tiered program, including the opportunity to further position itself strategically as the technology distributor of choice in the market.”
The EMC Business Partner Program brings together all previous EMC partner programs to create a simple, predictable and profitable experience for each partner. Designed in concert with partners, the BPP offers more flexibility and choice as well as greater access to solutions and services to enable partners to play a leading role in both the second platform and emerging third platform of IT, characterised by the mega trends of social, mobile, cloud and Big Data.
Ben Uzor
