Opay, a Nigerian financial technology firm, has announced that it will commence the removal of fraudulent accounts from its system starting March 1, 2024, DaOptimistic reports.
This revelation was made during a news conference on Wednesday.
The mobile money company emphasized that accounts lacking KYC compliance will also be blocked.
KYC, or "know your customer," is a banking process to acquire information about customers' identity and address, ensuring responsible use of banking services.
Opay justified this decision as crucial for reinforcing platform security and protecting customer deposits from fraudulent activities.
This strategic move follows a recent report exposing vulnerabilities in the company's registration and verification processes for new customers.
Addressing the concerns, Olayemi Precilia, director of cards business, said security measures have been upgraded on the platform as new customers will now require the national identity number (NIN) for account opening.
“When you log into your app and you have a tier one account and you don’t have your NIN, it will ask for your NIN. You cannot move forward without inputting that NIN. So, that is one of the things we’ve already done,” she said.
“The second thing is, for new customers, you’re going to start off with the NIN. That’s what we’re implementing. So, we’re pulling information from your NIN into your wallet. That is going live next month.
“And we have a timeline — March 1st — wherein anyone who is not compliant will be locked out.”
On his part, Ikponmwosa Kolawole Odiase, Opay’s director of partnerships, said fraudulent accounts will be yanked off” the firm’s system.
Going forward, according to Odiase, customers will be required to link their accounts with NIN and bank verification numbers (BVNs).
Speaking on the issue of poor facial verification on the application, he said the firm intends to deploy a system where there will be a backend verification of customers’ facials with BVNs and NINs.
“It’s a collaboration between all relevant stakeholders — the regulators, the KYC agencies. All this is a way to curb fraud,” he said.
“The fraudsters are not sleeping and we also are waking up to the challenge. It’s an industry challenge, unfortunately.
“So many fictitious accounts will definitely go.”
0 Comments