Lawmakers Dey Investigate Di Rising POS Fraud Wey Dey Spread Nationwide

Di House of Representatives don raise alarm over di yawa wey dey happen for Point-of-Sale (POS) fraud nationwide as lawmakers and industry people meet on Monday to check di growing security, regulatory and economic wahala wey dey for di sector. For resumed investigative hearing for National Assembly, Hon. Olufemi Bamisile wey be Chairman of di House Ad-hoc Committee on Economic, Regulatory and Security Implications of Cryptocurrency Adoption and POS Operations yan say dem don see reports of unprofiled agents, cloned terminals, anonymous transactions and weak KYC practices. E talk say dis kain things dey put Nigerians for financial loss, cybercrime and other security gbege. Bamisile add say some POS operators dey do crypto-related work wey dem never get licence for, wey fit lead to money laundering, terrorism financing and misuse of payment tools.

E still talk say some fake companies dey registered for CAC dey use National ID and BVN of innocent people to open accounts and wash money through unverified POS channels. E warn say storage of customer data for foreign servers by fintech companies dey make am hard for regulators to trace bad transactions or enforce compliance, wey get wahala for national security. Bamisile assure say di probe na to strengthen di sector, no be to punish operators, and e go recommend legislation to harmonise regulation, boost security, and protect consumers. Meanwhile, Paul Okafor, National President of Association of Digital Payment and POS Operators, yan say di sector don blow from 50,000 operators in 2017 to over 2.3 million for 2025, but regulatory oversight never even grow reach 10%, wey dey make fraud rise. E add say POS, banking and digital-payment channels lose N17.67bn to fraud in 2023 and N52.26bn for 2024, with 38,000 official cases and over 70,000 unreported. Okafor push say government must make police clearance, CAC registration and trade association membership mandatory for all POS operators, as e dey work for countries like India, Brazil and South Africa, wey Reduce Agent Fraud Sharply.