People used only cash for transactions for a very long period, and most forms of payment were physical. But as digital technologies proliferated, transactions increasingly became contactless and migrated online.
In nations like Nigeria, cash is still monarch, but since the pandemic, many people have started using electronic payments.
In a study titled “Instant Payments – 2020 Annual Statistics,” the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System stated that the COVID-19 pandemic altered the e-payments landscape and hastened the adoption of instant payments as more people turned to electronic platforms for money transfers.
Since then, the Central Bank of Nigeria’s naira redesign strategy has increased the number of e-payment transactions and volumes to all-time highs.
Cashless trades increased to N39.58 trillion in January 2023, up 45.41 percent year over year.
The CBN anticipates that this development will continue, and in its Payments Vision 2025 document, the central bank stated that by 2025, the nation would have an effective electronic payment system infrastructure that would gradually phase out cash transactions.
It said, “The use of cash will naturally slow with the ‘mobile first generation’, which will be economically active by 2025, hence one of the focuses of the PSV 2025 is enhancing the cashless policy of the CBN.
“As we implement the PSV 2025 agenda, the CBN will continue to ensure that the Nigerian payments system is widely utilised domestically, supports the government’s financial inclusion objectives, and meets international standards while contributing to overall national economic growth and development of Nigeria.”
With more people using electronic payments, there have also been more instances of online theft where con artists have accessed accounts and stolen money from their victims.
The NIBSS said that an increase in transaction processing speed and accessible channels has given fraudulent transactions a chance to flourish.
According to analyses of their financial reports for the first half of 2022, three Nigerian banks reported 26,877 fraud instances.
The Chairperson of CeBIH, Ms. Celestina Appeal, stated that online fraud has the potential to overtake other types of fraud by 2030 during a webinar hosted by the Committee of e-Banking Industry Heads with the theme “Digital Fraud and the Need for a National Intelligence Programme.”
Many people have expressed concern over the rising rate of fraud, which experts attribute to the slow uptake and lack of confidence in e-payment platforms.
But in the face of all these thorns lies some rose. You can avoid becoming a target of online fraud by having a basic understanding of online scams. Do so today!
