In recent times, the Telecommunications industry in Nigeria has come under intense threat of attacks by electronic fraudsters, who have invaded the sector to cause havoc by capitalising on the vulnerability of the people to defraud them.
To this end the Nigerian Communications commission (NCC) has also devised strategies to identify this threat and sensitise the public on the measures to be taken to curb it as Nigeria is said to be increasingly becoming the hub of electronic fraudsters.
Building on this capacity, NCC has initiated various ways to alert Nigerians about the new threat posed by electronic fraudsters, especially as they now target telecommunications networks to disrupt service delivery to perpetrate their illicit trade in varying devious ways.
At one of the awareness campaigns being mobilised across the federation, the executive vice chairman of the Commission Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, gave a warning at a Consumer Protection and Advocacy Programme held at Kofar Goriya, Keffi, Nasarawa State. He described as alarming the rise of electronic frauds in the country and warned citizens against falling prey to the activities of fraudsters.
Danbatta was represented at the event by the head of consumer protection and advocacy unit, Mr. Clement Omife.
He also advised citizens to avoid opening suspicious e-mail messages, or respond to unfamiliar enquiries online, stressing that information from the CBN indicated that e-fraud in Nigeria remains the biggest risk at the moment.
He added the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), the Nigeria Police Force and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have upscaled their mandate in collaboration with the NCC to fight electronic frauds.
He said electronic fraudsters also infiltrate people’s data bank SIM swaps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), to carry out nefarious activities.
Danbatta said, “As the telecom industry evolves, there is a growing concern over the rising trend of fraud on telecom (electronic fraud) across sectors of the Nigerian economy.
“The menace which follows wide acceptance of new methods of mobile money and electronic banking and payment systems has been discovered to cost the country whopping sums of money.
“The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates electronic fraud as the biggest risk in the sector which has widely incorporated electronic payment solutions such as Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBBS) Instant Payment and mobile banking.”
He stressed that the consumer advocacy and on-going enlightenment campaigns across were aimed to curb e-fraud, and ensure security and integrity of telecoms industry in relation with the nation’s financial system.
“Attackers are now targeting telecom networks with the intent to disrupt service delivery and infiltrate their data bank SIM swaps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data, USSD e-payment frauds, are currently some of the serious cyber threats in the telecom industry.
“Fraudsters conduct SIM swaps of individuals and then conduct USSD-based transactions which cost victims huge losses.
“A lot of people are highly ignorant to how losing their phones to fraudsters can lead to a complete clean-up of their bank accounts. These fraudsters do this by stealing victims’ identities; name, address, bank information.
“Consumers are advised to be careful not to open unfamiliar email or respond to unfamiliar inquiries and report suspicious E-fraud to your bank and telecom service provider,” the NCC boss added.
The collaboration with other security agencies especially with the EFCC to curb this scourge is very apt. It has become imperative to do so because on a daily basis, the EFCC sometimes issue about five statements detailing how they have busted electronic fraudsters mostly young men and seized assorted items, ranging from exotic cars, expensive handsets, laptops and other accoutrements that are used for or are gains of criminal activities.
To tackle this problem has become very urgent as experts are of the view that this crisis creates an atmosphere of apprehension for investors to do business in Nigeria, which further damages the reputation of the country as many foreigners have complained of the attitude of Nigerians always hacking into their systems to steal their money and perpetrate other forms of fraud.
