E-Business
To make ePayments more acceptable, Nigeria needs to curb fraud
By Victor Irechukwu, Head of Engineering, OnePipe
When a credit alert drops on your phone, chances are you will get excited. Even if it wasn’t a surprise and you were expecting that money. But when it is a debit alert, there’s also a certain type of gloom you feel; you want money to keep coming in but as little as possible of it going out.
Victor Irechukwu, Head of Engineering, OnePipe
It may be safe to say most of us feel that way.
Now, imagine the debit alert was for a transaction you know nothing about. A commonly reported theme has been alerts that your card was used to make deposits on a gambling website, whereas you may never have even indulged in gambling your entire life.
At other times, you are shown a debit alert by someone who wants to purchase goods or services from you, but only later realise they showed you what has now been termed ‘fake alerts’. By this time, your goods, for instance, would have been long gone.
In recent months, social media has been awash with reports of money literally growing wings and leaving some people’s accounts to those of other people without authorisation. Many of these cases have gone viral on social media, causing embarrassment for the banks involved – The issues are either quietly – or corrected with public acknowledgement. But not all are resolved, at least not yet.
As much as the country and even individuals would like to go cashless, these bad experiences leave a sour taste in the mouth, and they have continued to rain on the parade as Nigeria marches towards a cashless economy. It must be stressed that a cashless economy does not mean theft of money will stop, what it does is to change how thieves go about it. But more importantly, it also doesn’t mean thefts must occur, at least not if systems are strengthened and the right protocols are put in place.
In the electronic world, an article on The Balance Money describes hackers as the bank robbers and muggers and in a cashless society we are all exposed to them. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), growth in the use of electronic channels, specifically mobile devices has also enticed fraudsters into focusing their efforts on these electronic channels.
When an attack is successful and the culprits are able to drain funds from your account, you could be effectively left stranded. God forbid you needed that money for a life threatening emergency because that could be the end unless you are one of the lucky few whose funds get recovered in a place like Nigeria – and on time too.
Agusto & Co.’s ‘2022 Consumer digital banking satisfaction index for Nigerian banks’, found that approximately 59 percent of respondents had been fraud victims on the digital platforms of their banks.
The figures in terms of number of attacks, success rate and amounts lost remain a source of concern. By the third quarter of 2022, the total number of frauds & forgeries cases reported by Nigerian banks was 19,314 as against 27,356 incidents reported in the second quarter of 2022.
But there’s more. While the number of attacks represents a 29.40 percent decrease between the periods, the total sum reported to be involved in fraud cases increased by 9.50 percent to N9.62 billion from N8.78 billion in Q2 2022. Also, for the total amount lost due to fraud incidents, there was a significant increase of 207.94 percent from N1.17 billion in the second quarter of 2022 to N3.62 billion in the third quarter of 2022.
In essence, the number of attacks may have decreased within that particular period, but more money was lost to the fraudulent attacks.
These insights were provided in the Q3 2022 report by FITC, an organisation mandated to receive data on fraud from all Nigerian banks and prepare quarterly reports. The figures show that the highest number of occurrences were recorded under computer/web fraud followed by mobile fraud which includes fraud activities through USSD transactions and ATM related fraud.
BusinessDay had even reported that every day between January and March 2022, there was an average of 450 incidents of frauds and forgeries against Nigerian bank customers. In those three months, the attackers targeted N14.65 billion, with Computer/Web Fraud responsible for N10.57 billion (72.18 percent), and Mobile Fraud recording 1.48 billion (10.08 percent).
Those 40,522 attacks had resulted in N1.54 billion lost by bank customers. Computer/Web Fraud accounted for 70.51 percent (N1.07 billion), followed by Mobile Fraud accounting for 17.58 percent (N270.92 million) at the time.
Going back a bit, data by NIBSS also showed that fraud attempts via mobile channel saw a 330 percent increase year-on-year (YoY) between 2019 and 2020, while attempts via web and POS channels saw a 173 percent and 215 percent increase YoY. In those nine months, 96 percent of the attacks were successful and there were 46,126 of such attacks.
“This trend is expected to continue as Nigeria further grows financial inclusion and customers become increasingly dependent on electronic channels for their day-to-day transactions,” said NIBSS. In other words; things are expected to get a lot worse, according to the organisation described as Nigeria’s central switch for the financial industry.
Fraud is and has always been a large threat to commerce and e-payment transactions. It is impossible to totally eliminate the chance of fraud, but applying timely measures and ensuring the use of secure payment infrastructure can help reduce or even eliminate these risks. Security should continue to be top priority for every party involved in ePayment transactions. Fraud prevention involves taking measures to stop fraud from occurring and taking steps to detect frauds quickly (when they occur) and stop them as soon as possible. Different techniques for preventing and detecting frauds are required as there are different types of fraud in e-payment transactions.
Awareness of these risks by merchants, consumers and individuals plays an important role in reducing fraud in e-payment transactions. Merchant awareness and education is important – they should be aware of the types of frauds, implications and application of best practices. Consumer awareness and education is also important in order to reduce identity theft or payment data theft. This would help the individual in adopting an active and cautious attitude when carrying out electronic transactions. It could teach them to be aware of possible risks, avoid e-scams, and minimise giving vital information to merchants (or other parties) when carrying out electronic payments.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has issued an urgent cybersecurity warning about a serious Microsoft Office vulnerability (CVE-2026-21509) that attackers are actively exploiting.
This advisory, shared through Nigeria’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERRT.NG), highlights the risks of this flaw and recommends immediate action to protect systems.
Microsoft has released quick security updates to fix this vulnerability, which has a severity score of 7.8, showing it is a serious risk. Attackers have already used it in targeted attacks.
CVE-2026-21509 affects multiple versions of Microsoft Office, including Office 2016, Office 2019, Microsoft 365 Apps, Office 2021, and later versions.
This flaw allows attackers to bypass security features meant to stop harmful Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) controls. OLE is an older Microsoft technology that can be used to embed links or content, but it has often been exploited by malware.
By exploiting this flaw, attackers can create specially designed Office documents.
When a user opens these documents, they can run malicious code or gain further access to the system.
Exploitation requires user interaction, meaning attackers often trick people into opening harmful Word, Excel, or other Office documents. Common methods include using email attachments or files from untrusted sources.
Because Microsoft confirmed that the vulnerability is being actively exploited, they have made emergency security updates available outside their usual schedule. Users and organisations should:
- Install the latest Microsoft Office security updates for all affected versions.
- Restart Office applications for Office 2021 and later to ensure that the updates take effect.
- Use registry-based settings for protection if updates can’t be applied right away.
- Follow good cybersecurity practices, like using endpoint protection and filtering emails.
Microsoft’s updates for Office 2021 and newer versions are automatically applied, but need a restart of the applications to be active.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has commenced an investigation into over 1,000 education institutions across the country over compliance with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDP Act), 2023.
The move affects federal, state and private universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and technical colleges, marking one of the largest sector-wide compliance checks since the enactment of the law.
In a public notice issued on Thursday by Babatunde Bamigboye, head, Legal, Enforcement and Regulation, the Commission said the probe forms part of its ongoing sector-by-sector enforcement drive aimed at safeguarding the fundamental rights and freedoms of data subjects, as well as strengthening the legal foundation of Nigeria’s digital economy through the trusted use of personal data.
The NDPC directed the affected institutions to submit, within 21 days, evidence of filing their 2024 Data Protection Compliance Audit Returns, proof of designation or appointment of a Data Protection Officer including relevant contact details and a summary of technical and organisational measures adopted to protect personal data within their establishments.
It also requested evidence of registration as a Data Controller or Processor of Major Importance as required by law.
The Commission warned that failure to comply with the notice may result in the issuance of enforcement orders, imposition of administrative fines and possible criminal prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the NDP Act, 2023.
It stressed that compliance is mandatory and not optional for institutions that process large volumes of personal data
The education sector remains one of the biggest handlers of sensitive personal information in the country, including students’ academic records, admission details, biometric data, financial information and staff records.
With increasing digitalisation of admissions, online learning platforms and electronic documentation systems, concerns over data breaches and weak privacy safeguards have grown in recent years.
The Commission maintained that the investigation is in line with its statutory mandate under relevant sections of the Act empowering it to monitor, investigate and enforce compliance across sectors.
Chams Holding Company Plc, (Chams Holdco), digital payments and verification firm, has created a new subsidiary which is expected to strengthen the push for Africa’s digital transformation.
The creation of the new subsidiary, ChamsCorp Plc, which took effect from February 1, was made known in a filing to the Nigerian Exchange Limited , according to an announcement.
Chams said that the new subsidiary, which is its 5th, will give a new dimension to its more than 40 years of work in building the digital ecosystem not only in Nigeria, but across the continent and the rest of the world.
The newly created company will focus on three major aspects, namely the manufacturing of digital devices and development of digital infrastructure and services; data center design, construction and operations, and the development and implementation of AI infrastructure and intelligent systems.
It will also contribute to its parent company’s digital ID, digital verification, and trust services offering.
“For nearly four decades, we’ve enabled trust in transactions and identity. Now, we go furthe”
Chams is expanding into AI, data centre infrastructure, and intelligent systems, building the backbone for Africa’s digital transformation,” the company wrote in a LinkedIn post.
“We are not just participating in the future. We are engineering it,” the message added.
According to the Chams announcement, a decision of its Board of Directors appointed members of the pioneer board of ChamsCorp Plc, with renowned banker Mohammed Bashir Yunusa designated as Chairman.
He is described as a well-known finance expert who specializes in deal structuring, corporate and retail finance, business strategy, digital transformation, and Islamic Finance and Banking.
With more than 10 years of experience in the financial services industry, Yunusa currently serves as head of Consumer and Digital Banking for Non-Interest Banking Retail at Sterling Bank Nigeria, and will also serve as a non-executive director on the board.
“Chamscorp is designed to take our most ambitious ideas to market at speed and scale. As Africa’s digital economy evolves, we are focused on delivering transformative solutions that empower governments, businesses, and citizens alike,” Femi Oyenuga, CEO, Chams, commented on the development.
Chams has over the years played a major role in contributing to Nigeria’s digital ID ecosystem development to facilitate access to financial services.
In 2023, the company Group Chairman publicly stated that in providing such digital services to the Nigerian government, it had incurred debts estimated at $100 million and were planning to change their business model as a result.
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