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Report Bank Fraud in Nigeria: CBN & EFCC Steps

By Samson Ese, Founder of Daily Reality NG | Published October 11, 2026 | Updated October 16, 2026 | Reading time: about 22 minutes

Information verified and updated as of October 2026.

⏱️ Check This Before You Read Further

Open the CBN complaint lodgement page and read the section headed "Contact Your Institution First". It says you must report a complaint to the bank or branch where the problem began, and allow the stated period, before the CBN Consumer Protection Department will take it up. This guide explains the whole route around that rule, and the CBN page gives the current official wording. Check both.

Takes 3 minutes. Could save you from escalating before you are entitled to, and from losing days in the wrong queue.

Disclosure. Daily Reality NG is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the CBN, the EFCC, the Nigeria Police Force or any bank. No link in this guide is an affiliate or sponsored link. It is general information drawn from official pages and public reporting, not legal advice, and it cannot promise a refund or a prosecution.

At Daily Reality NG, an independent Nigerian publication, we turn official pages and regulations into plain steps. This guide shows the order in which to report bank fraud: your bank, the CBN, the EFCC and the police. It covers the paperwork, the mistakes that cost time, and what we could not verify.

1. The short answer

Report the fraud to your bank at once, by phone and then in writing, and keep the reference number. Give the bank the window the CBN describes, then escalate to the CBN Consumer Protection Department if it is not resolved. Separately, report the crime to the EFCC through its petition page, and use the police cybercrime portal if the fraud happened online. These are different tracks: the CBN handles complaints against institutions it supervises, while the EFCC and the police handle the crime.

Key figures in this guide

2 weeks: the period the CBN page says to allow your bank to resolve a complaint.
30 days: the period for complaints about excess charges and loans, under a revised circular dated June 30, 2014.
67,518: electronic fraud cases reported for 2025, according to a January 2026 news report.

This table sends you to the right section. It is Daily Reality NG analysis.

Your situation	Your most urgent priority	Go to
Unknown debits on your account this morning	Stop further loss, then complain to your bank in writing	The first hour
You sent money yourself after being tricked	Report to the bank and file a crime report	Step three: the EFCC
You complained and the bank has gone quiet	Prepare the CBN escalation with your reference	Step two: the CBN
Your wallet or account is restricted after a report	Ask the provider why, in writing	When things go wrong
Someone offers to recover your money for a fee	Stop and read the warning before paying	Scams aimed at victims

2. The first hour

Everything in this section is Daily Reality NG practical guidance, not a regulatory requirement. It exists because the formal process starts with your bank, and your bank can only act on what it knows.

An illustrative morning

This is an invented scenario, not a real case. Chiamaka, a salary earner in Enugu, wakes at 6:40 a.m. to two debit alerts she did not make: ₦185,000 and ₦40,000. By 7:05 she has searched for her bank's number and called the first one on the results page.

The voice on the line asks for her card details, and she reads them out. By 7:30 a third debit has gone through. She has lost ₦225,000 across the first two alerts, and she has no reference number from her real bank.

Her next move is the usual one: she tells a friend she will wait two weeks and see. Nigerian readers will recognise the shape of this morning, and our guides on SIM-swap fraud on bank accounts and how scammers keep getting smarter explain how it begins. This guide covers what to do after it has happened.

Reach your bank through a channel you can trust

Use the number printed on your card, the number inside the bank's official app, or the contact page you type into your browser yourself. Do not use a number from a text message, a social media comment or an unverified search result. Ask the agent to restrict the account or card, and ask for a reference number.

Write down the agent's name, the time and the reference. If the call does not connect within ten minutes, use the in-app chat or walk into a branch, and keep trying the phone in between.

Contain what you control

Lock your card from the app if it allows that, and change your app and email passwords from a device you trust. If you suspect a SIM swap, contact your network provider as well. Never put a PIN, password, OTP or full card number in any complaint.

Preserve the evidence

Screenshot alerts, your transaction history and any chat or call log. Save the SMS and email alerts, and do not delete messages, even embarrassing ones.

A note on transfers you made yourself. If a fraudster tricked you into sending the money, your bank may treat the case differently from an unauthorised debit. We could not verify a rule that applies to every case, so this guide does not say you are owed a refund. Report it to the bank at once, ask for its position in writing, and file the EFCC petition described in section 5.

Your action: within the next hour, get a reference number from your real bank and write the time you first noticed the problem at the top of your notes.

3. Step one: your bank, and why the clock matters

The CBN complaint page is direct. If you have a complaint against your bank, you first report it at the bank or branch where the issue began, then allow two weeks for resolution, although some banks resolve faster. The page adds that a revised circular dated June 30, 2014 requires banks to resolve complaints on excess charges and loans within thirty days. Read the wording on the official CBN page.

In practice, the clock that matters for the CBN route starts when the bank has your complaint. A phone call you cannot prove is a weak starting point, and a written complaint with an acknowledgment is a strong one. So report by phone for speed and in writing for proof, on the same day. That reading is Daily Reality NG analysis.

Stage	What the CBN page says	What you should do	What to keep
Day 0	Report first to the bank or branch where the issue began	Call the official line, then lodge a written complaint the same day	Reference number, agent name, time, acknowledgment
Within 2 weeks	Bank is expected to resolve; some resolve faster	Follow up in writing at intervals	Every reply, in any form
30 days	Revised 2014 circular: excess charges and loans	Use this window only for those complaint types	Statements showing the charge or loan entry
After the window	You may escalate to the CBN Consumer Protection Department	Prepare the escalation package in section 4	Proof you complained to the bank first

Source: Central Bank of Nigeria, "Complaint Lodgement" page, read October 16, 2026. The third column is Daily Reality NG advice, not CBN text.

Do not read the table as a promise that the bank will refund you in two weeks. The CBN page describes where to complain and when you may escalate, and it does not say every disputed amount must be refunded. Ask your bank in writing for its decision and its reasons. For ordinary failed transfers, see our explainer on what NIBSS is and how it works.

Did you know?

A January 2026 report on the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum said fraud cases fell by about 4 percent, to 67,518 in 2025 from 70,111 in 2024, and that the CBN is pushing for fraud response times under 30 minutes.

Source: allAfrica, "Nigeria: Losses to Fraud in Banks Decline, CBN Intensifies Measures", January 2026. A news report of a presentation, not the CBN dataset. It counts cases, not naira.

Your action: today, send one written complaint to your bank and ask for an acknowledgment. Note the date, because it starts the clock you use in the next step.

4. Step two: the CBN Consumer Protection Department

If your bank does not resolve the complaint within the period the CBN describes, the CBN page says you may escalate to its Consumer Protection Department. It deals with complaints against institutions within the CBN's purview, which the page lists as commercial banks, microfinance banks, primary mortgage institutions and discount houses. For how microfinance banks are licensed, see our guide to microfinance bank licensing and CBN regulation.

Where to send it

By email to the address in the CBN guide, cpd@cbn.gov.ng. Confirm it on the CBN page before sending.
By letter to the Director, Consumer Protection Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Central Business District, Abuja.
At the CBN head office or CBN branches, according to the same page.

What the letter should contain

The CBN lists your name, address, phone number and email, your institution, your banking details without PINs or passwords, the history and date of the disputed transaction, the amount claimed, supporting documents, and evidence that you complained to the bank first. The CBN also publishes a downloadable guide on lodging complaints.

Mistakes that slow people down

Escalating with no proof that the bank received your complaint.
Sending a long emotional message with no dates. Lead with a one-paragraph timeline.
Mixing the bank complaint with an accusation of crime. State facts, and keep the crime report separate.
Putting a card number, PIN or password in the letter.

Your action: open one folder, on paper or on your phone, titled with the date of your first report. Put the acknowledgment, statements, screenshots and timeline in it, so it is your escalation package when two weeks pass.

5. Step three: report the crime to the EFCC

The complaints to your bank and to the CBN are about how a regulated institution handled your money. Neither is a criminal investigation. For that, the EFCC runs an online petition page at efcc.gov.ng/petition. We opened it on October 16, 2026 and it loads, but its form is rendered by scripts, so we cannot reproduce the exact fields.

What to have ready

These are Daily Reality NG suggestions, because investigators work from details. Gather them before you open the form, and read the form's own fields there.

Your full name, phone number and email address.
The date and time you first noticed the loss.
The amount, the account the money left, and the receiving accounts if your statement shows them.
One paragraph describing what happened, in order, with dates.
Your bank's reference numbers and the dates you complained.
Your evidence as files: statements, alerts, chats, call logs.

Keep the petition factual. If you do not know who did it, say so. If you suspect a staff member, describe what you saw, such as a caller who knew your last three transactions, and let investigators draw conclusions.

A petition starts a process. We found no EFCC statement promising recovery of your money or a deadline for a result, so assume neither. It does give you a formal record that you reported, which supports your bank and CBN complaints.

Your action: before you open the petition page, spend 15 minutes assembling the six items above in one folder.

6. Step four: the police cybercrime route

Fraud through phones, apps, links, fake websites or hacked accounts is also a cybercrime question. The Nigeria Police Force runs a National Cybercrime Centre with an online reporting portal. In an announcement dated May 30, 2024, the Force said the portal sits at nccc.npf.gov.ng/ereport and replaced an older site, incb.npf.gov.ng. The Force's notice is on the NPF-NCCC announcement page.

Did you know?

The Nigeria Police Force told the public in May 2024 to stop using its older cybercrime reporting site because a new secured address had replaced it. A guide that still points to the old address sends your evidence to the wrong place.

Source: Nigeria Police Force, NPF-NCCC announcement, May 30, 2024. Verify the current address on the portal itself.

Nothing we found says you must pick only one body. If the fraud has an online element, reporting to both the EFCC and the police is a reasonable way to make sure it is seen, but keep one master timeline so your accounts match. If you walk into a police station instead, ask for a copy or reference number of your report.

If an officer asks you to sign a statement you do not understand, ask to read it first and to speak to a lawyer before you sign. You are reporting a crime, not confessing to one. Our guide on police invitations and what not to sign covers that situation in more detail.

7. Who does what

This comparison is Daily Reality NG analysis built from the official pages quoted above. "Could not confirm" means we looked and did not find a statement.

Body	What its official page says it does	Could not confirm	Use it when	Our verdict
Your bank	Receives your complaint first; the CBN page expects resolution within two weeks	Whether it refunds your loss	Always, the same day	Start here, in writing
CBN Consumer Protection Department	Takes unresolved complaints against supervised institutions	Any outcome or timeline after escalation	After the bank window passes	Second, with proof you went to the bank
EFCC petition	Online petition page for financial crime reports	Recovery or response deadlines	Whenever a crime is involved	File alongside the bank route
NPF-NCCC e-report	Police portal for cybercrime reports	Response times	When the fraud was online	Add it for online fraud

Sources: CBN "Complaint Lodgement" page; EFCC petition page; NPF-NCCC announcement of May 30, 2024. The last two columns are Daily Reality NG editorial judgement as of October 2026, not official guidance.

The verdict column is blunt on purpose. The bank route and the crime route are separate tracks, and the bank track needs paper from day one. A system that sends a fraud victim to three offices, each with its own forms, is badly designed for someone who has just lost money, and the victim who keeps the best file gets the best chance.

8. Evidence and a complaint letter layout

An agency cannot act on what it cannot see. This checklist is Daily Reality NG guidance, and the times are rough planning estimates, not promises from any bank.

Item	Why it matters	Where to get it	Rough time
Statement showing the disputed entries	Proves amounts, dates and beneficiary details	Bank app, or a branch for a stamped copy	Minutes in the app; a branch can take a day
Alerts and messages	Show when you were notified	Screenshots of SMS, email and app notices	10 minutes
Reference numbers and agent names	Link your complaint to a date and a person	Your notes from the first call	Already done if you followed section 2
Written complaint and acknowledgment	Starts the clock and proves it started	Bank complaint channel or branch	Same day
Chats, call logs and links you were sent	Show how the fraudster made contact	Your phone	15 minutes
Beneficiary account details	Let the bank and agencies trace the receiving account	Your receipt or statement	5 minutes

One mistake described repeatedly is cleaning up the phone and deleting the very messages investigators need. Do not delete anything until your case is closed.

A complaint letter you can adapt

This layout follows the items the CBN lists. Write each line in your own words with real details, and leave out your PIN, password, OTP and full card number.

Date of letter:

To: The Branch Manager, name of your bank, branch address

Subject: Complaint about an unauthorised or fraudulent transaction on my account

My full name, address, phone number and email:

Account name, and the last four digits of the account number:

What happened, in order, with dates and times:

Amount involved, and the beneficiary details shown on my statement:

Reference number from my first call, with the agent's name and date:

What I ask the bank to do: investigate, restrict further debits, give me written feedback, and tell me its decision and the reasons for it.

Documents attached: statement, alerts, call or chat records.

I request an acknowledgment of receipt of this letter.

Signed, with name and date.

Your action: fill the letter in tonight, and deliver it to the branch or the bank's official complaint email tomorrow morning with a request for an acknowledgment.

9. When things go wrong

The bank will not give a reference or acknowledgment

Walk into the branch where your account is held, ask to lodge a written complaint, and ask for a received stamp or an email confirmation. If you can only email, keep the sent copy. The CBN page expects you to complain to the bank first, so you need something to show you did.

Your account or wallet is restricted after you report

A restriction after a fraud report is not automatically a punishment, and it is not automatically a court order. Our explainer on EFCC account freezes, legal powers and your rights covers one common cause, and our guide to why OPay accounts get blocked covers others. Ask your provider in writing why the restriction was applied and what it needs to lift it.

The bank says you authorised the transfer

Ask for the bank's position in writing, including the basis for it and the evidence it relied on. Keep your own evidence of how you were tricked, and file the EFCC petition and, for online fraud, the NPF-NCCC report. We cannot tell you the outcome, and you should distrust anyone who says they can.

Weeks pass and nobody replies

Send a short dated follow-up to each body, quoting your reference. If the bank window has passed, take the CBN escalation in section 4. Keep a table of the date, the body, what you sent and what came back, because it is the most persuasive document you can hold. We found no official timeline that applies to every report, so ask anyone quoting a date which document it comes from.

10. Scams aimed at victims

Victims become a target list, and a second wave of fraud often follows within days. This section describes the patterns so you can avoid them, not so anyone can copy them.

A caller or social media account claiming to be from the bank, the CBN or the EFCC who asks for your PIN, password or OTP. Nobody legitimate needs them to investigate your case.
A "recovery agent" who asks for an upfront fee, for example a ₦30,000 "processing" transfer to a personal account. The amount is illustrative, and the demand for upfront money is the red flag.
A website or number that looks official but did not come from the official page. The police told the public to discard an older reporting site, and fraudsters rely on outdated links.
Pressure to act within minutes. Genuine complaint processes are slower than that.
Someone who says they have contacts inside the bank or an agency who can settle it privately.

If this has already happened to you, stop sending money, screenshot the messages, tell your bank, and add the new facts to your EFCC petition and police report. The loss of a second payment is not your fault, and reporting it helps.

11. What it means in naira

The figures in this section are hypothetical and exist to show the arithmetic. Suppose an account allows ₦200,000 in outgoing transfers per day. This limit is invented, so check your own limit in your bank app.

The formula is daily limit multiplied by the days the account stays unrestricted: ₦200,000 × 3 days = ₦600,000 of possible exposure. If you restrict the account within the first day, exposure in this example is ₦200,000. The ₦400,000 difference is the cost of the sentence "I will wait and see."

For a small business the effect is sharper. Take a POS operator in Aba with monthly turnover of ₦1,200,000 to ₦2,000,000. A fraudulent debit of ₦90,000 is 7.5 percent of the lower figure (₦90,000 ÷ ₦1,200,000) and 4.5 percent of the higher (₦90,000 ÷ ₦2,000,000), which can erase a week of profit.

At national scale, the January 2026 figure of 67,518 reported cases means tens of thousands of people each year face the same three offices. For where deposits are protected, see our guide to NDIC deposit insurance coverage and claims.

Your action this week: open your bank app, find your daily transfer limit and alert settings, lower the limit to what you need on an ordinary day, and make sure debit alerts reach your phone.

12. What changed in 2026, and what we could not confirm

The CBN complaint page, read on October 16, 2026, still states the bank-first rule, the two-week window and the thirty-day window for excess charges and loans.
In January 2026, reporting on the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum gave the 2025 case figures quoted above.
The Nigeria Police Force announced on May 30, 2024 that its cybercrime portal had moved to nccc.npf.gov.ng/ereport.
We found no official change to the complaint process in the last six months. If a rule has changed, the official pages linked here are where it will show first.
We could not confirm a refund rule that applies to every case, EFCC response times, or the exact fields on the EFCC form.

13. Key takeaways and your 24-hour action

Your bank comes first, because the CBN page says to complain where the problem began.
Phone for speed, then write for proof, on the same day.
The CBN's stated window is two weeks, and thirty days for excess charges and loans.
The CBN handles complaints against supervised institutions and is not a criminal investigator.
Petition the EFCC for the crime, and use the police portal for online fraud.
Never put a PIN, password, OTP or full card number in a complaint.
No official page we read promises a refund or a result date.
Keep every message and screenshot until your case is closed.

Your 24-hour action: get a reference number from your real bank, send it a written complaint, and save the acknowledgment in a folder with the time you first noticed the problem. It takes about 45 minutes, and it changes your position from "I called" to "I can prove I reported on this date."

Thank you for reading a guide nobody wants to need. Chiamaka's morning could have gone differently with a reference number by 7:10 and a dated letter by lunchtime. Tonight, save your bank's official number in your phone under a name you will recognise. — Samson Ese | Founder, Daily Reality NG

Frequently asked questions

Who should I report bank fraud to first in Nigeria?

Report it to your own bank first, by phone through an official number and then in writing, and ask for a reference number. The CBN complaint page says to start with the bank or branch where the issue began. The EFCC and police handle the crime itself and can be approached alongside that route.

How long must I wait before escalating a bank complaint to the CBN?

The CBN complaint page says to allow two weeks for the bank to resolve the matter. It adds that a revised circular dated June 30, 2014 requires banks to resolve complaints on excess charges and loans within thirty days. Check the CBN page for the current wording before you escalate.

What should a complaint letter to the CBN contain?

The CBN lists your name, address, phone number and email, your institution, your banking details without PINs or passwords, the history and date of the disputed transaction, the amount claimed, supporting documents, and evidence that you complained to the bank first. Keep the letter factual and lead with a short timeline.

Where do I send a complaint to the CBN Consumer Protection Department?

The CBN guide gives an email address, cpd@cbn.gov.ng, and a postal route to the Director, Consumer Protection Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, Central Business District, Abuja. It also says letters can be submitted at CBN branches. Confirm the details on the official CBN page before sending anything.

Does the CBN investigate the fraud as a crime?

The CBN complaint process is for unresolved complaints against institutions it supervises, such as banks. It is not a criminal investigation. For the crime itself, readers can file a petition with the EFCC or report to the police, and keep their bank complaint running at the same time.

How do I file a petition with the EFCC?

The EFCC runs an online petition page at efcc.gov.ng/petition. Its form is generated by scripts, so read the fields there. Before you start, gather your contact details, dates, amounts, account details, your bank's reference numbers and your evidence files, and write one factual paragraph describing what happened.

Can I also report bank fraud to the police cybercrime centre?

For fraud that happened through a phone, app, link or hacked account, the Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre runs an online e-report portal. A statement dated May 30, 2024 said the portal replaced an older site that should be discarded. Confirm the current address on the portal before submitting evidence.

Will my bank refund me if I report fraud?

We could not verify any rule that guarantees a refund in every case, so this guide does not promise one. What you can do is report at once, complain in writing, and ask the bank for its decision and the reasons for it in writing. Escalate through the CBN if the bank does not resolve it.

What if I sent the money myself after being tricked?

Your bank may treat a transfer you authorised differently from an unauthorised debit, and we cannot say what outcome to expect. Still report it to the bank immediately, ask for its position in writing, and file the EFCC petition. Reporting creates a record and may help investigators trace receiving accounts.

Should I put my PIN or OTP in a complaint?

No. The CBN guide tells customers to give banking details without PINs or passwords, and you should never share an OTP or full card number in a complaint or with anyone claiming to investigate your case. Genuine complaint processes do not need them.

What evidence should I keep after bank fraud?

Keep account statements showing the disputed entries, screenshots of alerts and messages, your bank's reference numbers and the names of agents you spoke to, your written complaint and the acknowledgment, chats or call logs from the fraudster, and the beneficiary account details. Do not delete messages until your case is closed.

Is a recovery agent who asks for an upfront fee genuine?

Treat any upfront fee request as a red flag. The CBN complaint page we reviewed describes lodging a complaint through the bank, the CBN office or email, and does not describe a payment step. Verify any claim on the official CBN, EFCC or police pages, and never pay into a personal account.

What should I do if my fintech wallet is frozen after I report fraud?

Ask your provider in writing why the restriction was applied and what it needs to lift it, and keep the reply. A restriction after a fraud report is not automatically a punishment or a court order. Daily Reality NG has an explainer on fintech account freezes and court orders that covers the difference.

Can I complain to the CBN about a fintech app?

The CBN complaint page lists commercial banks, microfinance banks, primary mortgage institutions and discount houses as the institutions covered. We could not confirm a single rule for every fintech app. Check the provider's licence status and complaint route first, and keep the same evidence folder for any escalation.

How many electronic fraud cases are reported in Nigeria?

A January 2026 allAfrica report on the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum said cases fell by about 4 percent to 67,518 in 2025 from 70,111 in 2024. This is a news report of a presentation, not the underlying CBN dataset, and it counts cases, not naira lost.

Sources and limits

Central Bank of Nigeria, "Complaint Lodgement" page and its guide on lodging complaints, read October 16, 2026.
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, petition page, opened October 16, 2026. The form is script-rendered, so field details are not reproduced.
Nigeria Police Force National Cybercrime Centre, announcement of May 30, 2024.
allAfrica, January 2026 report on the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum. This is a secondary source and not the CBN dataset.

Limits: we could not verify a universal refund rule, response times for the EFCC or the police, or a single official timeline after escalation. Contact details can change, so confirm each one on the official page. This guide is not legal advice.

About the author

Samson Ese - Founder of Daily Reality NG

I'm Samson Ese, and I started Daily Reality NG from Warri, Delta State, in October 2025. I was born in 1993 and have written for years, and this publication is where that habit became practical guides on money, banking, business and technology in Nigeria.

Three values guide every article: accuracy, simplicity and honesty, which here includes saying "we could not verify this" when that is true. The story of how this publication was built is in how Daily Reality NG was built, post by post, and the full author profile has more. This note appears on every article for transparency.

Disclaimer. This article gives general guidance on reporting banking fraud in Nigeria and does not replace advice from a qualified lawyer. Outcomes differ from case to case and none is guaranteed. Full terms are on our terms and disclaimer page.

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