Nigeria's central bank has warned that
fraudsters are taking advantage of a major
crackdown on fake bank accounts.
Customers had until the end of October to
register their fingerprints and photographs at
their local bank.
The bank says messages claiming to help
reactivate registration are fraudulent and
actually trying to get people's personal
information.
Huge sums are allegedly stolen from Nigerian
banks as a result of forgery and illegal
withdrawals.
Customers who registered were given a Bank
Verification Number (BVN) to use at cash
machines, and for online and mobile
transactions.
Banks are using the verification number along
with customers' biometric information to check
they are genuine.
Potentially millions of people could now be
blocked from these services as less than half of
Nigeria's 52 million bank account holders had
registered on Friday, according to Central Bank
of Nigeria (CBN) spokesman Ibrahim Mu'azu.
On Monday, he released a statement saying that
"unscrupulous individuals" are trying to get
people to reveal their personal details to use to
defraud them.
He wrote that an example message says: "Dear
customer, due to the new BVN policy by the
CBN your account has been deactivated and to
reactivate, call……".
He reminded customers that "neither the Central
Bank of Nigeria and deposit money banks nor
their employees or agents would ever call bank
customers or send e-mail/text messages
requesting for passwords, card details or
personal identification number (PIN)".
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