E-payment fraudsters now in irrecoverable recession ―Adelabu

 

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), through its anti-electronic fraud measures, has sent those who specialise in swindling Nigerians of their money through e-payment channels on ‘recession,’ the Bank’s Deputy Governor (Operations), Mr Bayo Adelabu, has said.

 

Adelabu assured Nigerians that the ‘recession’ would be indefinite, as the CBN would not relent in strengthening its fight against e-fraud to protect Nigerians from unscrupulous people.

He spoke in Ibadan, Oyo State, at the weekend, while delivering a keynote address at the 2017 annual retreat of the Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NEFF) held at the Best Western Plus Hotel, Iyaganku.

Officials of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), United States Consulate, Lagos, Consumer Protection Council, bank representatives were among stakeholders at the retreat with the theme “Operationalising a Four Sided Approach to Preventing Fraud” and sponsored by NEFF.

Adelabu disclosed that losses to fraudsters had progressively reduced in the last three years, adding that “it is safe to say that the fraudsters’ industry is not only in a recession, but will hopefully never recover, based on the strategies this retreat will birth in the fight against e-fraud in Nigeria.”

“In this age of digitalisation and increased adoption of alternate forms of payment for goods and services, the importance, role and relevance for an industry fraud forum serves no longer as an option but must feature and play a conspicuous role in ensuring not only the security of members, but also that of the consumers who they all intend to serve,” he said.

He lauded the milestones recorded by NEFF in six years, noting the successful implementation of Cybercrime Prohibition and Prevention Act 2015 among others.

He underscored the importance of the retreat as one that would further reinforce greater synergy between the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), NEFF and the entire payments industry.

“At the CBN, we shall continue to ensure a safe, reliable, secure and efficient payment system and our commitments will neither waiver nor dampen in this regard,” he assured.

In a presentation earlier, an Executive Director in Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, Mr Niyi Ajao, disclosed that a total of 1 billion e-payment transactions valued at 31 trillion were done in the country in the first half of 2017.

The volume transaction, he said, represented what was achieved in the whole of 2016, a development, he said, indicated that transaction through e-payment platforms was being embraced by more Nigerians.

He noted that despite the increased e-payment transactions, the country was only scratching the surface of Portugal with a human population of 11m achieved I billion e-payment transactions in 2007.

Ajao, who commended the CBN for introducing Bank Verification Number (BVN) to which 30.7 million adult Nigerians had subscribed, however, highlighted some of the challenges thrown up by the initiative.

According to him, only 30.7 million of 90 million adult Nigerians with cell phone lines targeted by banks for financial services are captured, leaving a huge gap of unbanked Nigerians.

He said banks were too far away from Nigerians, as only 5, 500 branches of all banks in the country service a population of 190m people, adding that banks have even been closing their branches in the rural areas to achieve better profitability.

He suggested that banks could engage super agents in areas where they it was not profitable for them to open branches, as part of solutions to reaching the unbanked and expanding the e-payment penetration.

Also speaking, NEFF chairman, Dipo Fatokun, disclosed that banks were contemplating the procurement of automated teller machines with the biometric facility to eliminate the incidence of the financially illiterate population being swindled through the disclosure of ATM pins to third parties at ATM terminals.

He said the existence of NEFF had curbed cases of e-fraud, adding that the Forum would not rest but continue to evolve a strategy to foil the nefarious activities of fraudsters.