Over 6000 BVNs Under Investigation For Fraudulent Transactions; Says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has disclosed that at least 6,047 Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) of bank customers have been placed under watch for fraudulent transactions. 

This was disclosed in the Central Bank Financial Stability Report published in December 2022.

The report also noted that no less than 11,871 BVNs have been watch-listed as deceased persons this year, Investors King learnt. 

It could be recalled that at the launch of BVN in 2016, the apex bank revealed that bank customers involved in fraudulent activities will now be placed under the radar of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to the CBN Director, Banking and Payment Systems Department, Mr Dipo Fatokun, the Bank Verification Number (BVN) recently introduced would be used to achieve this.

Fatokun further explained that the BVN involves capturing of customers’ physiological or behavioural attributes like fingerprints, signature among others which are coordinated by the CBN and banks in collaboration with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS).

Meanwhile, the latest report further noted that there were 2.72 million enrolled in the first half of 2022, bringing the total number of enrolled BVNs to 54.65 million. This is out of about N148.4 million active customer accounts across banks in Nigeria. 

The apex bank report added that Access Bank, GTB and Fidelity Bank recorded 26,877 fraud cases in the first six months of 2022. 

This was a 56.45 percent decrease from the 61,715 fraud cases that were recorded by the banks between June and December 2021.

On a bank-to-bank basis, Access Bank recorded the highest number of fraud attempts and actual losses in the first half of 2022.

The apex bank noted that fraudulent transfers, withdrawals, and reactivation of accounts had the most successful attempts on Access bank platforms with a loss value of N9.48 billion while the actual loss was N1.08 billion.