The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Wednesday inaugurated a multi-sectorial Committee to tackle the menace of e-Fraud currently bedeviling the country.
The committee members are drawn from; NCC, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Police Force, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) ,Consumer Protection Commission, Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit( NFIU)
National Identity Management Commission(NIMC),National Inter Bank Settlement System, ministry of justice , Nigeria police force among others .
The Committee has the mandate to develop a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the resolutions from the stakeholders forum on the financial fraud committed through telecommunications platforms.
BussinessDay recall that the proposed MoU was one of the resolutions of the Stakeholders Forum of Financial Fraud using Telecoms Platforms which was held on the 29th of January 2019.
The Executive Vice Chairman, Umar Danbatta in his welcome address said, hackers and other unscrupulous elements are exploiting vulnerabilities platforms to gain illegal access to bank account through phishing and other social engineering ploys such as fraudulent SIM swaps to bypass authentication systems, regardless of whether the transactions are conducted via mobile phone, desktop browser, or point of purchase.
He added that the Customer Service and Fraud Operations teams in Banks and Mobile Network Operators need stronger processes and tighter guidelines on how to detect potentially fraudulent activities and to compensate victims where prevention mechanisms fail.
The NCC boss said, the committee would develop a plan for the implementation of the MoU, which according to him, would provide a roadmap for drastically curbing the menance of e-Fraud.
He identified effective collaboration between government agencies and private organisations as pivotal in tackling electronic fraud.
“Permit me to emphasize that effective collaboration between government agencies and private organisations is pivotal in tackling this scourge of electronic fraud.
“With this in mind, members of the Committee have been carefully selected to provide broad perspectives and leverage their diverse experience to successfully deliver on this critical assignment.
“Understandably, our expectations are high and we look forward to a comprehensive and all-encompassing output from the Committee,” he said.
Earlier, in her remarks, the Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, NCC, Felicia Onwuegbuchulam said, prior to the Stakeholders Forum, the incidence of financial fraud using telecom platforms had been pervasive, crossing all borders and boundaries and industry spectrum.
She said, the negative implications of such frauds were not only huge in financial losses but high in reputational damage to the telecom operators, the financial institutions, the regulators (NCC and CBN) security agencies and the nation as a whole.
According to her , “the Commission had also been inundated with complaints on the unceasing cases of financial fraud via the use of telecom platforms and, as a result, was poised at seeking initiatives aimed at creating greater awareness on the issues as well as creating ways of mitigating problems arising from its occurrence.
“The Stakeholders forum was, indeed, one of the initiatives put in place by the Commission to harness ideas and solutions towards solving/ mitigating the menace,” she said.
Stella Enenche, Abuja
