Technology
New Visa Study Reveals Overconfidence Contributes to Scam Success
By Adedapo Adesanya
A new research from global payments giant, Visa, done across 17 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) has revealed a disconnect between consumers’ confidence in recognising fraud and their online behaviour, highlighting the importance of staying alert and mindful of fraud attempts.
The study forms Visa’s Stay Secure Campaign, focused on raising consumer awareness, strengthening education, and building confidence to combat social engineering threats.
Despite more than half of consumers (56 per cent) claiming to be savvy enough to sidestep online and phone scams, it was found that 90 per cent were likely to disregard the warning signs that suggest online criminal activity.
As cybercrime persists in an increasingly digital world, Visa has moved to curb this rising threat. The company has invested over $10 billion over the past five years in technology, including to reduce fraud and enhance network security. This includes $500 million on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data infrastructure and has reportedly prevented $27.1 billion in potential fraud.
The campaign aims to pave the way for a secure and seamless digital payment experience. Through this initiative, Visa provides educational content, including videos, infographics, and tips designed to equip consumers with the knowledge and skills to recognize and prevent fraud.
Some of the key findings in the study point to the existence of a knowledge gap as false confidence can propel someone to click on a fake link or respond to a scam offer. It found that those who consider themselves more knowledgeable are more likely to respond to a requested action from scammers compared to those who say they are less knowledgeable, including positive news (74 per cent to 67 per cent) or urgent action (65 per cent to 55 per cent).
There is also concern for the vulnerability of others as respondents feel confident in their own vigilance, over half (52 per cent) were concerned that their friends or families will fall for a scam email offering a free gift card or product from an online shopping site, which offers customers ways to buy iTunes gift cards in Nigeria. Over a third (36 per cent) of respondents are concerned about children or minors, as well as retired people falling prey to online scams.
In addition to notices involving orders, product offers, or feedback, people are most suspicious of password requests. Less suspicious types of communications are updates regarding delivery or shipping (just 42 per cent listed as a top three source of suspicion), marketing communications regarding a sale or new product offering (41 per cent), or an invitation to provide feedback on a recent experience (37 per cent), all of which can be used by scammers.
The study also found the case of overlooking telltale signs. Only 57 per cent reported looking to ensure communications are sent from a valid email address, while 52 per cent will check if the company name or logo was attached to the message. Fewer than half of correspondents look for an order number (45 per cent) or an account number (43 per cent). Only 33 per cent look to ensure words are spelt correctly.
The company warned that scammers try different approaches to craft messages that appear genuine and compel recipients to take immediate action. The Visa Stay Secure Study identified prevalent patterns in the language most associated with scams – and how vulnerable are respondents in the surveyed countries.
It warned that cybercriminals often feign urgency to spur people into action, such as clicking a link or responding to a sender. Up to 40 per cent of respondents will fall for messages about a security risk, such as a stolen password or a data breach, while a notice from a government entity or law enforcement can trick 36 per cent.
Another method is sharing positive news with 71 per cent of respondents saying they would take action if a message had a positive hook, like “free gift,” “you’ve been selected,” or “you’re a winner.”
The research also found that Gen Zers are more likely to act on a giveaway (39 per cent) than a notice from the government (31 per cent), while 44 per cent of respondents would click on a link or reply to a message that offered a financial opportunity.
There is also the Action Required approach to which 60 per cent said they would respond to action-required phrases, though respondents are most suspicious of requests to reset their password.
Speaking on this, Mr Charles Lobo, Regional Risk Officer for Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at Visa said, “In today’s digital-first world, scams are evolving in sophistication, with criminals using new approaches to trick unsuspecting consumers. Whether it’s a parcel held up at customs, a streaming subscription claiming to have expired, or a free voucher for a favourite brand, scammers are adopting persuasive tactics to deceive. Understanding the language of fraud is increasingly essential, and our Visa Stay Secure educational platform provides the knowledge and skills to help stay ahead of fraudulent activity online,”
Visa warned that consumers can better protect themselves by taking a few extra moments before clicking, including understanding the language scammers use. These include, “keep personal account information to yourself; don’t click on links before verifying that they’ll take you where they say they will; regularly check purchase alerts, which provide near real-time notification by text message or email of purchases made with your account; and call the number on corporate websites or the back of your credit and debit cards if you are unsure if a communication is valid.”
By Dipo Olowookere
The Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer for MTN Nigeria, Mr Babalola Oyeleye, has disclosed that the telecommunications company intends to expand its infrastructure to give its customers quality service.
The demand for connectivity in Nigeria is growing, and with a new forecast predicting the Internet of Things (IoT) market to reach $38.7 billion by 2030, stakeholders, especially operators, are already positioning themselves to dominate the space
Government and private sector investments in digital transformation have created an ecosystem that includes system integrators and security specialists. Industries such as utilities and agriculture are leading the charge, adopting IoT to solve localised problems like power theft and low crop yields.
Currently, 4G coverage has reached approximately 80 per cent of Nigeria’s population, with 5G services already in major cities like Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, and Kano. This connectivity backbone is essential for the low-latency communication required by millions of connected devices.
“Reaching the $38.7 billion mark isn’t just about the numbers; it’s about the millions of data points helping Nigerian SMEs and large corporations make smarter decisions every day. Our goal is to ensure the connectivity is there to meet this soaring demand,” Mr Oyeleye noted.
As the ecosystem matures, the focus is shifting toward all-in-one solutions that simplify the user experience. With ongoing investments in NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) and other low-power connectivity options, the next five years are set to see an explosion in smart city and smart home applications across the country.
By Adedapo Adesanya
South African-founded Refiant AI has raised $5 million to slash the energy footprint of artificial intelligence (AI) in a seed round led by VoLo Earth Ventures, a top climate technology fund.
The startup uses nature-inspired algorithms to radically compress AI models, slashing the hardware and energy required to run them. The new fund will be used to scale Refiant’s team – which already includes a former Google Cloud architect, a Cambridge PhD researcher, and an engineer with NASA experience – to build out a platform and to accelerate enterprise partnerships.
According to a statement shared with Business Post, the company is in active conversations with several multinational technology firms exploring how Refiant’s approach could reduce their AI compute costs while maintaining data and energy sovereignty.
“AI’s growing energy footprint is one of the most urgent and underappreciated challenges in the climate space,” said Mr Sid Gutta, the company’s co-founder. “The industry’s default answer is to build more data centres and consume more power. Ours is to make the AI itself dramatically more efficient.”
The company said it has already successfully demonstrated it can compress a 120 billion parameter AI model to run on a standard laptop, reducing energy requirements by over 80 per cent while preserving near-identical quality. It achieved this to run on a MacBook Pro with just 12GB of RAM. The same model would normally require hardware with at least 80GB of memory. The model retained 95-99 per cent of its fidelity, ran alongside a second AI model on the same machine, and the entire process took four hours with no cloud computing required.
For Refiant, its approach will help businesses reduce their carbon footprint and adopt AI to stay competitive. The energy required to process a single AI prompt on standard infrastructure could power roughly 100 equivalent prompts using Refiant’s approach.
The current breakthrough results were attained at the end of last year, and since then, the team have been gearing up to demonstrate successfully exceeding these results with further compression, longer context windows and model traceability.
“The AI industry is spending hundreds of billions scaling infrastructure when the real breakthrough is the ability to do more with radically less,” said Mr Viroshan Naicker, co-Founder and a mathematician with published research in networks and quantum systems. “Nature doesn’t build by brute force. Evolution optimises. We’ve applied that principle to AI – and the results speak for themselves.”
“AI’s biggest constraint isn’t demand – it’s energy,” added Mr Joseph Goodman, Managing Partner, VoLo Earth. “What’s been missing is a fundamentally more efficient way to compute. Refiant’s architecture replaces brute-force scaling with a far more efficient, nature-inspired approach that lowers energy use while increasing capability. That’s the kind of breakthrough needed to make AI sustainable on a global scale.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Google and UpSkill Universe, Sub-Saharan Africa’s leading AI and business skills training partner, have announced a major redesign of the Google Hustle Academy programme. For the first time, the free training initiative is open to everyone, not just business owners.
The new curriculum is focused on equipping individuals and entrepreneurs with practical AI skills and comes at a time when small businesses have become the engine of Africa’s economy, creating over 80 per cent of jobs on the continent. To help them grow, the Hustle Academy was launched in 2022, providing bootcamp-style training on business strategy, digital skills, AI, and leadership. The program has since trained over 18,000 SMEs, with many reporting increased revenue and job creation.
Now, as AI reshapes the job market, the program is evolving. The 2026 edition is built for anyone in Sub-Saharan Africa, including employees, students, and job seekers, who want to use AI to advance their careers. To meet the needs of a diverse audience, the new format includes short, 60-minute webinars and more immersive, high-impact bootcamps. These sessions are laser-focused on putting AI to work immediately in areas like digital commerce, marketing, and growth strategy.
Speaking about the academy, Mr Gori Yahaya, Founder & CEO of UpSkill Universe, said, “The 2026 Hustle Academy is designed to close the AI Skills gap with hands-on training that is short, focused, and immediately useful. AI is reshaping how businesses win and how careers are built, right across this continent. We’re excited to renew our partnership, now in its fifth year with Google, combining their global AI leadership with our deep regional AI expertise. The next wave of AI leaders will come from this continent. We are making sure they are ready.”
The Hustle Academy initiative has strengthened digital competitiveness across emerging African economies by enabling SMEs to move beyond AI awareness to practical implementation, positioning them for sustained growth in an increasingly AI-driven business environment.
“We believe that the future of Africa’s digital economy lies in the hands of individuals and entrepreneurs alike. Our new strategy focuses on scaling reach by training individuals in the latest AI-centred tools and techniques,” said a Google representative.
Applications for the 2026 cohort are now open. Interested participants can apply at: https://rsvp.withgoogle.com/events/hustle-academy
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