UK-based Nigerian alerts EFCC, CBN on danger of using card online

A Nigerian-British Chartered Engineer and Director of Information Security, Dr Kingsley Chibuzor Aguoru, has petitioned the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to halt card PIN usage for online payments to protect Nigerians from being fleeced of their hard-earned money.

He said he was making a passionate appeal to secure financial practices in the country.

The UK-based Chartered Engineer, with over 20 years of experience in financial technologies and security, said he was compelled to bring attention to the critical flaws in Nigeria’s current online card payment practices, which expose customers to unnecessary risks and significant danger.

According to Aguoru, the continued use of PIN in online transactions puts Nigerians at a grave risk of being defrauded.

Aguoru noted that card PINs were designed for face-to-face transactions at ATMs and POS terminals where secure encryption methods protect users rather than online usage.

In the petition cited by this paper, titled “Urgent Call to Ban Card PIN Usage for Online Payments in Nigeria,” Dr. Aguoru explained: “In 2005, I developed a solution to tackle prevalent fraud in card-not-present transactions in the United Kingdom using both online and offline OTP models, drawing on Cartesian geometry.

“Although major networks like Visa and Mastercard declined the innovation at the time, my OTP model has since become a standard worldwide for authorisation.

He advised the CBN to urgently step forward for the safety of Nigerian cardholders by banning the use of card pins for online transactions and mandating the use of OTPs or other dynamic authentication methods, such as authorisation through mobile banking apps.

He noted that there was a need for consumers to be educated on safe online payment practices to minimise exposure to phishing and other cyber threats.

He said it was also necessary for the CBN to enforce industry-wide compliance with modern security standards to protect Nigerian customers, especially on the web, through policies such as security and payment compliance policies.

Aguoru emphasised that by adopting these measures, the CBN will greatly reduce the risk Nigerian consumers face and bring the nation’s payment systems in line with international best practices.