The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has issued a strong warning against the use of fraudulent SWIFT messages, clarifying that it does not provide correspondent banking services for Nigerian banks in foreign payments nor maintains accounts for private business entities.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the CBN addressed the growing number of claims from private entities, individuals, law firms, and government agencies alleging that foreign currency funds, supposedly transferred by foreign entities, have not been credited to their Nigerian bank accounts.
The claims are often supported by fake documents such as SWIFT MT103 messages and SWIFT Acknowledgment copies.
The CBN’s Ag. Director of Corporate Communications, Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, described these claims as misleading and emphasized that the SWIFT messages cited by the claimants are unreliable, as they cannot be traced on the SWIFT platform.
“The funds have not been received by the beneficiary banks, and there is no basis for the claims that these funds are trapped within the CBN,” she stated.
The CBN further explained that the correct procedure for tracing disputed foreign transfers is for the sending bank to issue a tracer to determine where the funds are located.
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The apex bank also made it clear that it does not act as an intermediary in private sector transactions, including payments made to private businesses.
“The CBN neither provides correspondent banking services for Nigerian banks nor maintains accounts for private business entities. Therefore, claims of trapped funds in the CBN are not only unfounded but deceitful,” Mrs. Ali added.
The bank warned that individuals or entities making such unsubstantiated claims could face legal consequences, urging the public to exercise caution when dealing with unauthentic financial documents and to report any fraudulent activity to the appropriate law enforcement authorities.
