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The Managing Director of Moniepoint Microfinance Bank, Mr. Babatunde Olofin, has warned Nigerians against sharing their account numbers publicly, especially during the festive season, to avoid falling victim to cyber fraud.
Babatunde made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday.
He emphasized the importance of cybersecurity awareness and warned that such actions could lead to unwitting involvement in criminal activities and imprisonment.
“My biggest piece of advice is that people should stop sharing their account numbers in public. Some people are in jail because they had no idea what someone was using their accounts for.” said Olofin.
He explained that fraudsters often misuse public information to commit financial crimes, leaving unsuspecting individuals to suffer the consequences.
Babatunde stressed the need for vigilance, noting that giveaways are often a disguise to collect personal data.
“People don’t love you so much that they give you giveaways. So you should know that they collect your data. Your bank account is private information,he declared.
Babatunde explained how fraudsters use attractive offers of free gifts and cash rewards to lure victims into sharing their banking details.
“Fraudsters do many things. They structure funds. They know how internal systems work,” he noted.
Babatunde also mentioned that in some cases, victims’ identities are stolen and their accounts misused for illegal activities such as money laundering, leading to legal complications.
“We have built a transaction monitoring and money laundering team that has established rules internally,he said.
The number of fraud cases in Nigerian banks has increased significantly 65% increase This is reported by the Financial Institutions Training Center (FITC). The number of fraud incidents increased from 11,532 in Q2 2024 to 19,007 in Q3 2024.
Despite this progress, Nigerian banks have lost a total of an estimated N53.4 billion to fraud in the first nine months of 2024, underscoring the growing threat of financial crimes and the need for heightened vigilance.
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