What Opay said as FCCPC orders them to address account anomalies
The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has ordered fintech company, Opay to explain account anomalies Nigerians have identified in the last few days.
As a fintech company, OPay uses users’ mobile numbers as their account numbers because it is a regulated mobile money provider. However, it is not yet obvious how individuals who have not contacted the business to register an account are seeing their number as an OPay account with their full identities.
Recall that social media platform X, is awashed with complaints by Nigerians who claimed their names and phone numbers were used to open an Opay account, without them actually opening the account with the company.
Sharing his ordeal, an X user, @hackSultan wrote, “just checked now and someone, I have an Opay account, same with every member of my family. None of us has ever opened an Opay account. How’s this even legal?”
Another X user, @0sadebame tried this and confirmed that there is an OPay account for her two lines. “It’s quite a discovery. Both my lines have an OPay account registered to them. I’ve never used Opay before, she said.
@Lost_DWTBF, also confirmed this anomaly, when he tweeted that, “I just checked mine and is the same. @OPay_NG, is there a reason why my number is registered when I have never?”
Others were inspired by this to look up their phone number.
You can accomplish this by attempting to send money from another bank app, choosing OPay as the receiving bank, and using your phone number instead of the first “0” digit as the account number.
In his reaction, the chief executive officer, FCCPC, Mr. Babatunde Irukera, called on OPay to explain how this is happening and promised to provide an update.
“OPAY is bound to @fccpcnigeria to address and explain this and other anomalies consumers have identified in the last few days,” he said in his X post while responding to posts on the issue.
Meanwhile, Opay, in its reaction, said: “We are now analysing what happened internally after seeing these tweets yesterday. We ensure that all wallet owners are properly registered. It’s possible that some users have interacted with the platform at some point; but, before we answer, I need to hear from my colleagues and review the results of our inquiry.”
Opay Reacts:
OPay is safe & Secure 🔐, Your funds and accounts are safe with OPay ALWAYS! Kindly ignore fake news and posts.
Thank you for trusting OPay.
DISCLAIMER!
Dear esteemed customer,
Our attention has been drawn to a video that resurfaced on some social media platforms (TikTok, Twitter & WhatsApp) regarding alleged fraudulent activities on some OPay Agent accounts. This incident occurred over 2 years ago (August 23, 2021) and we took the right and appropriate actions with the relevant stakeholders to resolve the stated issues.
From that point onward, we have periodically educated and sensitized our customers about account data security, encouraging them not to fall victim to malicious information, fraud, and scams.
In order to further protect our users, we have taken significant measures to protect customer data and accounts by continuously upgrading our security system and adding extra layers of security measures such as BVN verification, and Face ID verification. Furthermore, we also provide 24-hour Customer Service to help our customers resolve any issue. We implore our customers and the general public to disregard the video and its content and beware of individuals and groups of people who peddle wrong information.
We wish to reiterate our unwavering commitment to protecting our users from fraudulent activity or scams as customer data protection is our priority. OPay is a leading digital payment platform licensed by the CBN and insured by NDIC with over 40m users, 500,000 agents, and 150,000 merchants in Nigeria and remains committed to providing the best service and user experience to its valued customers.
Signed: Management
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