CBN laments massive e-payment fraud in Nigeria

BY OLABISI OLALEYE
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has decried the huge electronic payments fraud threatening the stability of its cashless policy in the country. According to him,  “It is fast becoming an hydra headed monster ,which  has become highly commercialised and  also the largest revenue generation for organised crime globally’’.
This disclosure was made recently by the Deputy Governor, Operations, CBN, Mr. Tunde Lemo, during his keynote address at the 4th Annual Payment Systems and Fraud Conference organised by the Electronic Payment Providers Association of Nigeria (E-PPAN) in Lagos.
Themed : ‘Contemporary Fraud Issues with cashless society: The Way forward,’ Lemo hinted that his contemplation of recent development therefore has been on whether the identification of countermeasures and risk management tools are keeping up with the pace of the innovation and dynamism of the evil-geniuses in the world of cyber-fraud.
Said he: ‘‘The menace of fraud threat had assumed a frightening dimension globally overtaking drug trafficking as the largest revenue earning organised crime not only in Nigeria but globally. While I am excited by progress made in Nigeria in combatting the menace, especially success made with Chip+PIN technology and two-factor authentication, recent information gives course for concern.
“Recently, I learnt that such threats as Man-in-the-Browser (MITB) attacks, which I learnt is capable of defying such tested countermeasures as SSL/PKI two/three factor authentication and One Time Password once thought to be the Holy Grail antidote to electronic payments and/or online banking fraud threats. We used to derive comfort that when transacting online over an https-based website, we were secured, but now what was hitherto a forte for online financial services and e-commerce has been corrupted with https based attack.”
However, he explained that the apex bank has instituted the Nigeria E-Payment Fraud Forum, (NeFF) to tackle e-fraud.  Stressing CBN’s Payments System Policy and Oversight Office is currently being repositioned to be more responsive to challenges in the industry, evolve appropriate policies and regulation proactively. Adding that CBN would  step up the process of acquiring a Payments System Oversight and Anti-Fraud System for online risk surveillance of the payments system.
Lemo also maintained that the cashless economic policy has continued to make reasonable progress within the context of the Nigerian environment and that the channel of electronic fraud is also staring the scheme on the face, based on that fact, CBN was constantly devising means to contain the menace. Noting that the infrastructural challenges in the scheme are being checkmated and government reforms in power and telecommunication sectors will ensure long term sustainability.