E-Financial
PalmPay Releases 5 Financial Safety Tips to Master Before the Holiday Season
As the holiday draws near, fraudsters are on the prowl for whom to defraud using dubious shopping websites and posing on social media platforms as customer support agents of legitimate businesses to steal your identity.
While activities of online fraudsters are more sophisticated and are posed to spike during the holiday season, according to reports, other types of frauds that fraudsters are likely to use in defrauding you include digital loan scams, one-time password (OTP) scams, giveaway campaign scams, and free gift or voucher scams.
Aside from the security measures put in place by businesses such as banks, fintechs and online shopping stores, you owe it to yourself to take some safety precautions when conducting financial transactions during this holiday season.
In an interview in Lagos recently, Kevin Olumese, Senior Marketing Manager, PalmPay, rolled out financial safety tips everyone should master before the holiday season beckons.
Mr Olumese noted that as the holiday draws near, fraudsters would be on the prowl seeking whom to defraud using dubious shopping websites and posing on social media platforms as customer support agents of legitimate businesses to steal your identity.
“Aside from security measures put in place by businesses such as banks, fintechs and online shopping stores, you owe it to yourself to take some safety precautions when conducting financial transactions during this holiday season,” Mr Olumese cautioned.
He listed some easy safety tips to save yourself from fraudsters this holiday including but not limited to the following:
Shop from secure retail outlets
Shoppers this holiday season will see an increase in dubious shopping websites, with some of them offering ridiculous discounts to attract unsuspecting shoppers to input their debit card details which would be stolen by fraudsters.
Do not shop on an online retail store that you don’t trust or haven’t used before, it doesn’t matter whether they are offering the best discount. Moreso, if the discounts they are offering look too good to be true, it’s probably because it is not true.
Shop using verified online websites or payment apps that are secure and seamless. Payment apps like PalmPay have been integrated with different business outlets, allowing you to pay your bills and utilities securely and with ease.
Use only trusted POS machines
Whether you want to withdraw cash to spend this holiday season or make payments using a point of sale (POS), it is good that you thread carefully and only patronise POS agents that have terminals of fintech brands that you can trust.
Stay vigilant and watch out for possible irregularities while patronizing POS agents. To ensure that the details of your card are not stolen, hide them and do not input your personal identification number (PIN) in the presence of other people.
Using POS terminals of trusted fintech companies cannot be emphasised enough. For ease of transaction, use POS terminals that offer a good network, a reliable system with less than one percent failure rate, an option to know banks’ network updates in real-time, and 24/7 quick customer dispute resolution.
Be wary of unsolicited calls, emails and texts
Expect to receive several unsolicited phone calls, emails and text messages from scammers claiming to be from businesses that you know. Some of these calls, emails and texts would claim that you’ve won a discount or holiday giveaway from a trusted business and would ask you to pay some money to enjoy the discount or giveaway.
Do not fall for this trick. Legitimate businesses will not ask you to pay money to enjoy a giveaway promotion or require that you send sensitive bank details to be granted access to a discount. Beware! No staff or agents of PalmPay will call or text you to ask for money or sensitive information in exchange for a coupon or a discount.
Research discounts, giveaways
This brings us to the next and one of the most important safety tips to always apply during this holiday season and after. Always do your research on purported discounts and giveaway challenges supposedly coming from trusted brands.
During the holiday, whenever you come across an ongoing giveaway promotion, go to the official social media accounts and websites of the brand to verify. Any discount or giveaway challenge that is not communicated to the public through the official social media channels of a legitimate business should be viewed cautiously.
Every discount and giveaway by PalmPay is usually posted on the company’s social media pages. Follow the right handles on Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), TikTok and LinkedIn, and always look out for the verified check marks.
Avoid fraudulent fintech apps
Do not give out your personal information and bank details to fintech platforms that you do not trust. It is important that we repeat this safety warning. Do not download fintech apps that are not regulated by the government.
Loan or fintech apps that are not regulated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and whose deposits are not insured by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) should be avoided completely. Before downloading any fintech or loan app, conduct your research to ensure that they boldly carry the CBN and NDIC badges.
Aside from being regulated by the CBN and insured by NDIC, at PalmPay we go the extra mile to ensure that our over 30 million users and the more than 1.1 million businesses that are part of our payment ecosystem are safe from fraudsters. Follow our social media handles to stay up-to-date on safety guidelines.
E-Financial
CBN Cites Financial Stability Concerns, Revokes Heritage Bank’s Licence
Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has, announced the revocation of the operating licence of Heritage Bank Plc with immediate effect.
In a statement issued by Mrs. Hakama Sidi Ali, acting director, Corporate Communications, CBN, said that the apex bank said the move was in accordance with its mandate to promote a sound financial system in Nigeria and in exercise of its powers under Section 12 (1l of the Banks and Other Financial Act (BOFIA) 2020.
The central bank pointed out that the Board and Management of the bank had not been able to improve the bank’s financial performance, a situation which constitutes a threat to financial stability.
This followed a period during which the CBN engaged with the bank and prescribed various supervisory steps intended to stem the decline.
Sidi Ali said, “Regrettably, the bank has continued to suffer and has no reasonable prospects of recovery, thereby making the revocation of the license the next necessary step.”
E-Financial
Digital Transformation: a top-three priority for banks, says new report
The African Banking Digital Transformation Report, a collaboration between pan-African publication African Banker and Backbase, creators of The Engagement Banking Platform, is a cornerstone in Africa’s financial news landscape, offering in-depth insight into the digital revolution being undertaken by the banking sector across the continent.
A growing African population – forecast to be 2.49 billion by 2050 – coupled with spectacular increases in the number of devices such as smartphones and tablets (mobile phones now account for 75% of web traffic in Africa) is the perfect recipe for an explosion in digital banking. Benefits include speed, convenience, and enhanced user data, meaning that banks can much more readily tailor solutions for their clients. In 2021 – the last year for which full figures are available – 55.07% of the African population owned a bank or mobile money account, compared to 23.33% in 2011.
Digital: the way forward
The 2024 edition of The African Banking Digital Transformation Report revealed that 76% of banks rank digital transformation as either their top priority or among the top three, while the remaining 24% also view it as important. With almost half of the continent unable to access any form of bank account, including approximately 60% of women, this result reflects the opportunity for banks to grow their customer base through an inclusive digital offering.
“I really see AI as a game-changer, both internally and externally”
This year, cloud computing was the most cited technology being incorporated into digitisation strategies. This overtakes Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity & Resilience as the primary driver since our 2023 survey. The result can be explained through the growing sophistication of AI solutions, which sees it spill over into other technology areas including Cybersecurity.
Interviewed for the report, Ecobank Group Chief Digital Officer Nvalaye Kourouma said: “I really see AI as a game-changer, both internally and externally” because AI-powered tools help overcome language barriers for engaging customers in different countries.
“We now have the capability to build local natural languages into our AI interactions so that language and writing are no longer barriers.
“Speech and image can be used to communicate more effectively. AI opens the door for a different level of engagement with our customers, so it’s encouraging,” he added.
The 2024 edition of the Report draws on comprehensive survey data from more than 150 banks spanning 35 countries, providing an in-depth analysis of current digital banking trends, key innovations, and digital transformation progress. This release underscores Backbase’s commitment to fostering technological advancements and driving financial inclusion in Africa.
The African Digital Banking Transformation Report was launched during GITEX Africa 2024, which took place 29 – 31 May in Marrakesh, Morocco. The report is available to download now: https://apo-opa.co/3R7BVI0
E-Financial
First Bank Employee on the Run after Allegedly Diverting N40Bn
First Bank of Nigeria has initiated legal proceedings to recover substantial sums of money allegedly embezzled by an employee.
The bank, which boasts a market capitalization of ₦829 billion, reported the incident to the Nigerian Police Force on March 25, 2024, and subsequently obtained multiple court orders to freeze accounts linked to the stolen funds.
The employee—who is currently at large—is accused of transferring those monies to 98 bank accounts—including his wife’s—that were identified as first beneficiaries.
The bank received three court orders between April 4–8, 2024, to block hundreds of bank accounts that were allegedly receiving the stolen funds after reporting the incident to the Nigerian Police Force on March 25, 2024.
While the initial amount found to be diverted was approximately ₦12 billion, three people with direct knowledge of the incident told TechCabal that it currently stands at approximately ₦40 billion ($29 million).
According to a First Bank employee with knowledge of the situation, the employee, named in court documents as Tijani Muiz Adeyinka, was authorized to handle customer reversals in her capacity as a manager on the electronic products team. It implied that he was in charge of an account from which he could credit merchant accounts and process those reversals.
Instead, Muiz allegedly used that power to credit customer requests for reversals to a merchant under his control. He purportedly did not require any additional authorizations because he was the team’s final line of authorization, which allowed him to continue misappropriating client funds for nearly two years without being discovered.
His plot was eventually uncovered when a client filed a complaint, which was then forwarded to the internal control department of the bank. After identifying multiple questionable transactions, the control unit informed the authorities.
“We hereby bring to your notice the discovery of fraudulent transactions into various transactions within and outside the bank and request your good offices to set up the machinery of investigation in place with a view to unravel the circumstances surrounding the said fraud and get the culprits apprehending to face the wrath of the law,” read a letter dated May 10, 2024, from First bank to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police.
First Bank ignored TechCabal’s repeated calls and emails asking for comments.
An inquiry for comments was not immediately answered by a Nigerian Police Force spokesperson. An inquiry for comments was not answered by the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) spokesperson.
“I discovered that one Muiz Tijani Adeyinka, a former staff of First Bank was involved in the nefarious posting of fraudulent transactions,” read a statement from the investigating Police officer in charge of the case signed March 26, 2024.
“It was discovered that he made some fraudulent transactions to his wife’s account number (name withheld) domiciled with Zenith Bank, which in turn transferred to other beneficiaries totaling thirty-four accounts which also gave birth to second beneficiaries domiciled with other banks totaling 1,190 accounts,” the statement added.
First Bank did not disclose the amount of money that was stolen in any of the numerous court filings or complaints.
Along with requesting that the Police “unravel the circumstances surrounding the fraud,” it remained silent on how the money was acquired.
Fraud is still a major problem in Nigeria’s financial services sector, even though there was a decrease in cases reported in Q1 2024.
The largest banks in the nation are frequently the target of fraud attacks, despite fintech startups receiving disproportionate attention.
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