Rising wave of e-frauds puts Nigerian economy at risk
Thursday, June 14, 2018
By Prince Osuagwu & Juliet Umeh
There is a growing concern over the rising trend of electronic fraud across key sectors of the Nigerian economy. The menace which follows wide acceptance of new methods of mobile money and electronic banking and payment systems has been discovered to cost the country a whopping N197.9 billion annually.
The troubling development finds a fertile ground in more than 90 per cent Nigerian organisations found to be operating below the poverty line, which significantly exposes them to cyber security risks. This affects almost all the key sectors, putting the whole economy at the risk of collapse if nothing is done fast to checkmate the tide.
Hacking has become a real menace for banks as they have become targets both internally and externally, experiencing losses in billions of naira.
Recently, Nigerian banks were among the ones targeted by the North Korean hacker, Lazarus. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, rates e-fraud as the biggest risk in the sector which has widely incorporated electronic payment solutions such as Automated Teller Machines, ATMs, NIBBS Instant Payment, NIP, and mobile banking.
Photo courtesy of Simon Berry.
Source: Vanguard Newspapers (link opens in a new window)
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