By Adeniyi Ogunfowoke
Unlike in the past when Nigerians queue at banks for their transactions, and today you can do it in the comfort of your home with your smartphone by either using the mobile app or USSD. It’s that simple. And the emergence of fintechs has further strengthened the financial sector.
However, with the seamlessness of online payments, there is a very big disadvantage – you can easily lose your money. As such, fraud has been simplified as it only takes less than two minutes to clear out a target account. This won’t happen when you visit banks for transactions. But a lot of people will choose convenience over the stress of going to their banks because we are in the technology age and the former is no longer sustainable. Hence, trust, reliability and quick resolution of complaints are very important in this era of online payment.
This is why a lot of digital nomads and digital natives are sceptical about this digital or online payment craze! Why won’t they?
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported last year that Nigerian banks lost N12.30 billion to fraud in 4 years. The Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF)-a unit of the Central Bank of Nigeria-said that the value of reported electronic banking fraud over the last three years is N5.571 billion. Data released by NeFF last year shows that counter fraud has reduced over the years while the ones done through ATM and mobile devices increased.
You see there is a major cause for concern. Regardless, stakeholders in the financial sector are combating this dreadful trend in order to nip it in the bud. The Central Bank of Nigeria last year published a draft guideline on cybersecurity for Deposit Money Banks.
Like earlier stated, the entry of fintechs is gradually restoring customer confidence in the financial sector. The anti-fraud security of a fintech like Jumia Pay is first class. It is impregnable to a very large extent and you are guaranteed very smooth cum secure transactions.
So, when you shop across the Jumia verticals-Food, Travel & Mall, you don’t need to worry about using an external payment gateway. Jumia Pay is available to you to make payment and as a result, it is encouraging Nigerians to prepay for their orders thus complementing the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria in promoting a cashless economy. In any case, you have a complaint, it can be resolved and monies refunded to your Jumia Pay account.
This also goes for the banks. They are now working alongside fintechs to fight online fraud and have budgeted huge sums to deploy the latest technology to mitigate against cybercrime.
Hence, there is really no need to worry about online payments fraud.
This said, customers, have a monumental role to play in ensuring that online payment fraud is defeated. Some customers are quite negligent with their banking details. For example, unsuspecting customers expose their Personal Identity Number for their ATM cards, mobile apps and USSD to strangers. It is personal and should not be shared with anyone. If you have to, it should be shared with extremely trusted individuals. But then, your account may be hacked but it will be easier if these online thieves have your banking details. Therefore, guide your banking details as much as you can. Of course, avoid using QWERTY or date of birth as passwords.
The financial sector has been disrupted by fintechs. Whether you worry about online payment fraud or not, it does not really count because everything is moving online because it is convenient and fast. The onus now falls on the stakeholders in the Nigerian financial sector to up their cybersecurity ante to deal with fraud and for customers to be careful with their online information.
Business Post Contributor