If you're thinking about what life will look like in a cashless society in the future, the current situation in Nigeria may provide some insight. The country's frequent cases of financial fraud have made people reconsider whether it is worth giving up cash.The report of the Nigerian Training Centre for Financial Institutions states that there were 78,584 cases of bank fraud in 2023.
Among them, there were 34,772 computer fraud cases, involving 189 amounts700 million naira; 33,714 mobile device fraud cases, involving 64800 million naira. Cases of POS transaction fraud are also uncommon, with more than 10,098 cases involving 19 amounts between the second quarter of 2022 and the second quarter of 2023 alone500 million naira.
Electronic trading volume increased by 44% year-over-year in the first quarter of 202384%, far exceeding the bank's expectations. Since independence, Nigeria has changed its currency ten times to combat counterfeiting and promotes the use of cashless payment methods. However, this also brings new risks.
Appel, the head of e-banking, warned that fraud has the potential to become a major form of fraud. NIBSS reports a four-fold increase in fraud between 2019 and 2021.
* Jimo, director of the bank's payment system, said that with the emergence of new payment channels, scams are also on the rise. Irechuku, director of engineering at Onepipe, noted that incidents of fraud could hinder the development of a cashless economy.
Cashless payments bring convenience and efficiency, but so does the risk of privacy breaches and fraud. Nigeria's physical currency** has doubled since the lockdown in 2020, while the quasi-currency also grew in August. This increase in cash circulation poses a challenge to control inflation.