The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has called for banks to strengthen their e-platforms to protect customers' transactions.

The commission said the enactment of the Cybercrime Act will assist in monitoring electronic transactions and investigate real and possible cyber attack, as is done in countries like the United Kingdom.

The EFCC made the recommendation yesterday through Ibrahim Shazali of its Bank Fraud Section at a presentation at the ongoing Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) workshop for financial correspondents in Ilorin, Kwara State. Shazali said the lack of a well-defined legal context for prosecuting cybercrime and financial fraud related to electronic platform resulted in a pitiful apprehension success rate in 2014. Of the 1,461 suspected cases, only 41 (3 per cent) were apprehended. He noted that cybercrime is not merely a technological issue, but is at the heart of it, which he maintained can only be successfully minimized by the careful consideration of the current electronic transaction process, supervision, awareness dissemination and delegation.

Shazali also decried the fact that Nigeria lags on understanding the role and necessity of forensic auditing. He cited a 2012 study which revealed little or no awareness on forensic accounting among undergraduates due to its lack of significance in or complete omission from the curricula of Nigerian academic and professional accounting bodies. "As a result of these laissez-faire attitude, our banks and by extension, our economy, remain an unguarded target for internal and external adversaries who are taking advantage of this loophole" he added.

In 2014, the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported that electronic channels and mobile banking were the major avenues by which cyber criminals operated, with losses from fraudulent attempts growing from N485 million in 2013 to N6.2 billion in 2014, a 1,178 per cent increase.

Shazali pointed out the many dire consequences of electronic crimes to the economy and the banking industry to include disruption of business process, reduction in share prices, loss of reputation and lack of trust.

While calling for collaboration and consolidation of information among law enforcement agencies, he canvassed investment in increased preemptive monitoring and investigation of electronic transaction through more sophisticated means of accounting.