Prime Business Africa
Wema Bank recorded the highest increase in fraudulent activities among its peers in 2025, according to Prime Business Africa’s (PBA) analysis.
The financial institution experienced 1,489 fraud cases between January and December last year, surpassing the 987 fraudulent activities suffered in the same period in 2024, indicating the company recorded 502 more cases.
This represents a 50.86 percent rise in fraud cases, the highest increase among its peers, reflecting the company does not have a strong fraud prevention system to protect its customers and their deposits.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe company’s fraud cases were compared with five other commercial banks, as five did not report the fraudulent activities experienced last year.
Also, Wema Bank had the highest rise in amount involved in fraud cases, after recording 2,708.44 percent increase year-on-year, according to Prime Business Africa’s analysis.
The amount involved increased to N7.18 billion in 2025, significantly surpassing the N255.92 million reported in the same period in 2024, reflecting a N6.93 billion increase.
According to the breakdown, in 2025, Wema Bank staff were involved in 14 percent of the fraudulent activities, while the other perpetrators, who accounted for 86 percent, are outsiders.
The fraud cases during the year were from web, which experienced 21 percent, internet fraud, where 13 percent of the fraud occurred, and operations and others, which recorded 12 percent.
In 2024, the fraud cases, which occurred via operations and others (29.14 percent), mobile banking (25.08 percent), internet fraud (13.79 percent), were perpetrated by employees (14 percent) and persons outside the bank (86 percent).
Wema Bank Suffered Over 6,000 Fraud Cases In Four Years, Lost N1.78bn
Wema Bank has suffered 6,067 fraudulent activities between 2020 and 2025 (excluding 2022), with fraudsters targeting N9.08 billion during the four-year period analysed by Prime Business Africa.
While the company did not reveal the fraud cases and amount involved in 2022, it was gathered that the lender lost N1.78 billion to the fraud attacks in the four-year period, representing 19.67 percent of the amount involved.
The breakdown showed that in 2020, Wema Bank recorded 1,201 fraud cases, which the amount involved reaching N237.5 million, while the fraudsters got away with N105.46 million.
During the period, the fraud cases, which occurred via internet fraud (69 percent), operations and others (13.40 percent), and mobile banking (8.61 percent), were perpetrated by Wema Bank employees and external persons, with both accounting for 11 percent and 89 percent, respectively.
In 2021, Wema Bank recorded 1,195 fraud cases, with the staff of the financial institution perpetrating 3 percent of the attacks, while outsiders were involved in 97 percent of the fraudulent activities.
The amount involved in the fraud cases increased to N263.85 million — compared to the previous year — while the financial institution lost N119.08 million out of the amount involved to the fraudsters.
Prime Business Africa learnt that the fraud cases were mostly operations and others, which accounted for 70.15 percent, mobile banking experienced 63.49 percent of the fraudulent activities, and internet fraud accounted for 51.68 percent.
However, in 2023, the number of fraud cases stood at 1,195, with fraudsters stealing N685.59 million out of the N1.13 billion targeted by the bank staff, who accounted for 3 percent of the fraudulent activities, and outsiders, who accounted for 97 percent.
Majority of the fraudulent activities in 2023 were traced to operations and others (61.19 percent), internet fraud (44.21 percent) and mobile banking (6.22 percent).
For press releases, tip-offs, and corporate information, call 08149575257 (hotline), email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Prime Business Africa is a business, economy and policy news platform founded in 2021 by veteran journalist and media scholar, Dr Marcel Mbamalu, after he left The Guardian as Editor.
Dr Mbamalu, who serves as Founder and Publisher, set up Prime Business Africa to deliver sharp, data-driven reporting on Nigeria’s markets, trade, investment, and governance trends for decision-makers, entrepreneurs, and policy leaders.
He also writes The Bottom Line, a backpage column for Punch Newspaper every Thursday.
Under his leadership, Prime Business Africa combines deep newsroom experience with a focus on accountability journalism, aiming to bridge information gaps between Africa’s private sector and the global economy.
