CBN: Cash withdrawal cap regulation aims to reduce online fraud
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) at the weekend said that its present policy regarding cash withdrawal limits would aid in the fight against electronic fraud (e-fraud).
Musa Jimoh, the director of the CBN’s Payments System Management Department, announced this on Saturday in Lagos.
Additionally, he said that as the use of electronic payments grew, the number of fraudulent transactions fell by 35% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
Jimoh said the new policy would stop criminals from scamming honest people since the withdrawal limits will automatically locate and shut such compromised accounts before the money is removed illegally. Jimoh was speaking at the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF) conference.
Jimoh said, “As we envisage and begin to put some limits on the cash withdrawal that can happen daily the incidence of fraud would also tame down- because right now, they steal huge amounts of money, and then at about from 2 am to 3 am, they go to an ATM and withdraw everything.”
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“But right now, with the policy on limits, you would not be able to take as much and the system will be able to trace and block such accounts before the money is taken away.
“So, this cashless limit is also a way of deterring fraudsters from taking other people’s money,” Jimoh explained.
The CBN and NeFF have achieved success in decreasing e-fraud, according to the top bank official, who said that they have been able to protect the financial system and payment infrastructure from criminal activity.
He continued, “We have actually tamed down the incidence of fraud. We have recovered so many lost funds and we are putting formidable systems around our payment infrastructure and financial system infrastructure such that fraudsters cannot penetrate.”
“In terms of percentage, it is between 30 to 35 per cent decline in incidences of fraud. Remember, there are attempts and they are successful ones. The number of attempts is high, which means that they have been attempting but they are not successful and some are successful and so money is taken away.
“And in terms of recovery, we also recovered high numbers in terms of the percentage of the monies recovered because of the different initiatives and systems that have been put in place to checkmate all those fraudsters and to track wherever the money is taken into.”
