Last week news broke that Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) had filed a lawsuit against one of its employees, Komolafe Oluwayomi, 45, for fraud for allegedly hacking into the bank’s system and stealing N9.98 million from its account for personal use.
Sadly, the case is one of about 16,965 fraud cases that hit the bank in 2023, with the total amount involved put at N2.76 billion, according to data from the bank seen by MoneyCentral.
The breakdown of fraud and forgeries for the financial year is provided below:
The alleged Komolafe fraud case
The defendant Komolafe was ordered arrested by the Divisional Police Officer, DPO in charge of Bar Beach division, Victoria Island, Lagos following a complaint by the management of GTBank
After an investigation by Inspector Patience Eguabor and team, Oluwayomi, a resident of Unity Close, Ojodu, Lagos from Ondo State was charged before the Tinubu Magistrate’s Court, Lagos Island on a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and stealing.
Police counsel, Ben Ekundayo informed the court that the defendant committed the offence during working hours at the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc located at Oyin Jolayemi Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Ekundayo told the Court that the defendant betrayed the trust reposed in him by his employer as the officer in charge of payment of drivers’ retirement benefits by fraudulently including the name and account number of his friend in the retirement benefits payroll and used it to transfer the sum of N9,989,000 into his friend’s account as if his friend is a beneficiary of the retirement benefits and later transferred the money from his friend’s account to his personal account domiciled at GTB Bank and converted the money to his use.
He said the management of GTB uncovered the fraud when they audited the drivers’ retirement payroll accounts.
Ekundayo said the offences, the defendant committed were punishable under sections 411 and 287(7) of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015. The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charges, and Magistrate, M.A. Owunmi granted him N2m bail with two sureties in like sum.
Owunmi adjourned the case till 11 June 2024 and ordered that the defendant be detained at the Ikoyi correctional facility till he perfected the bail conditions.
Fraud cases to escalate on economic crises
The Central Bank of Nigeria has reinvigorated its tracking of bank transactions to check fraudulent practices in the sysÂtem which have been on the inÂcrease in the last five years and cost Nigerians billions of naira.
The CBN and banks in the country have been making efforts at enÂsuring that incidents of bank frauds are brought under control or eradicated.
However, analysts tell MoneyCentral that banks will have to be more vigilant as fraud cases are set to spike due to Nigeria’s economic crises.
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